The Guardian Angel
by AccessBlade
Summary: Having died in her previous world, Noelle now exists as an angel like entity in another one. She is assigned the task of being someone's Guardian Angel. And the person she's assigned to is none other than the tenth Vongola candidate, Tsunayoshi Sawada?
1. Afterlife

**Did I mention just how much I love Katekyo Hitman Reborn right now? And did I mention how much I love My Heavenly Judgement by colbub? Seriously guys, if you have the time you should go and read it. RIGHT NOW. **

**Basically, I liked the whole idea of someone dying and then being alive again in Katekyo Hitman Reborn as a trial of sorts.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I do, however own the OC who is going to be the main character in this fic.**

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><p><strong>Afterlife<br>**

_Noelle didn't even think about what she was going to do one she reached the roof as her legs ran as fast as they could take her. The only thing on her mind was finding Madison and warning her about__ the completely snapped and insane Angie who was hell intent __on taking the former out once and for all. _

_Angie Hart, Queen Bee of Hollywood High School and probably the bitchiest person to have ever existed in the school's history, apparently could not stand the idea of anyone breaking up with her. _

_Especially if that person was Jayden Matthews, the most popular boy in school who was also the nicest guy around. Because together, they were the hottest 'IT' couple of Hollywood High._

_But a few months back Jayden finally had enough of his girlfriend's -now ex-girlfriend- attitude towards other people and broke it to her firmly, but in the nicest way he could, that they shouldn't be dating any more. _

_There was of course drama and much playing victim on Angie's part, but the fact that the Queen Bee just got jilted by someone had made many people very happy. Noelle was one of the people who rejoiced, but it was more of the fact that karma had finally gotten to Angie and her heart breaking humiliating ways rather than anything else._

_It wasn't Jayden breaking up with her that made Angie snap. In fact, she recovered quickly enough and was on the dating scene again, going out with some popular boy in North Hollywood High. _

_No. It was when Jayden decided to go out with his childhood friend as well as Noelle's best friend since junior high, Madison Carter. And why shouldn't he? He deserved someone much better than his previous girl friend who treated him like her own personal chauffeur and a must have accessory that would look good with her.  
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_Angie didn't see it that way as most jealous exes would. _

_She did everything within her power to make Madison's life a living nightmare. She turned nearly the entire student body against her (save for Jayden, Noelle and six other of their close knit friends) who in turn made her life difficult. _

_And it didn't stop there. _

_Not only did Angie practically make everyone at Hollywood High hate Madison, she got her expelled from the school and had made it near impossible for her to attend another school within the district without getting the same treatment she had gotten at her former school. _

_Apparently she knew everyone on the social scene.  
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_Despite her reputation being slandered and being turned into the most hated person among her peers, Madison had remained strong with the support of everyone who knew that Angie was just a spoiled brat who took things over the top. _

_But what no one predicted was that Angie would go so far as to take a gun and shoot Madison in her vengeance for 'taking' Jayden away from her._

_Noelle kicked down the door that stood between her, Madison and Angie. Under the force of the inhuman strength she was well known for, the door splintered right in half allowing her to arrive on the scene just moments before her friend was shot by the gun wielding Queen Bee._

_"MADISON!"  
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_It was like her mind was on automatic. She didn't even stop to think about the dangers of the situation and instead acted by shoving Madison out of the way. Gun shots echoed within the air and Noelle fell backwards from the force of having something slam hard into her twice; right in the upper chest and another in the stomach. _

_It was like she had been punched, but the pain was so much more agonizing._

_Her entire body felt like it was on fire.  
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_She landed hard on her back in paralyzed agony and felt something soaking her clothes. Her mind was going haywire from the pain and she couldn't think straight enough to pierce together her thoughts.  
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_It took her about half a minute for her mind to fully register what happened; it wasn't too hard to figure out since she had saw Angie pointing the gun at her friend._

_Noelle had been shot. Twice.  
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_Somehow, everything else seemed to be in slow motion. She could hear screams, another gun shot, more screams and the sound of the two people struggling and then the stampeding footsteps and voices of other people running onto the chaotic scene._

_Noelle could hear Angie's maddened shrieks as she directed her hatred at Madison for ruining her life and she could also hear hysterical shouts for someone to call an ambulance.  
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_Just as her vision was beginning to blur, she saw Madison leaning over her with a tear stricken pained face. _

_She felt something being pressed onto her chest and stomach hard and assumed that her friend was trying to stop the bleeding.  
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_"Ha, ha... got here on time, didn't I?" Noelle laughed weakly, forcing herself to talk. It was a little hard to breathe and talk at the same time, but she forced herself to do so anyways._

_Her mind should have been focused on the fact that she was currently bleeding to death, but for some reason her mind seemed to accept the fact that she was going to die and that there was nothing she or Madison could do about it.  
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_Madison didn't seem to know what to say. She opened her mouth several times but ended up clamping it shut in the end. _

_"J-just hang on, okay? The ambulance is going to be here soon and they'll get to the hospital and you'll be fine!" Madison seemed to be trying to convince herself of that fact more than Noelle._

_Noelle struggled to get up to try and evaluate just how much damage had been done but found that she had no strength to do so._

_"M-maddie, just... tell me..." She could barely see her friend any more. "How bad is it?" _

_"Wh-what?" Madison stammered out in a choked voice. _

_"H-how... bad are my wounds? I... don't want you lying... to me and saying that everything is going to be okay... when it's pretty obvious that I'm... likely... to die..."_

_"How can you say that?" Madison shouted, sounding angry and broken at the same time. "How dare you say that? Everything will be fine you can't... you can't just give up!" Her voice broke off on a sob._

_Noelle winced slightly at making her friend cry, but what else was she supposed to say in a situation like this? The burning feeling that had consumed her body minutes before and that had made her feel like screaming to the high heavens was fading. In fact, she was starting to feel cold and some sarcastic part of her mind that was still functioning told her that that was not a good thing._

_"Madison," A third voice that Noelle immediately recognized as Jayden's cut in. He sounded completely exhausted; not that she could really blame him since it was probably quite a shock that his ex-girlfriend had just moments before tried to kill his current girlfriend. "She's surrounded by a pool of blood that's nearly as big as her..." _

_"But that doesn't mean she'll die!" Madison was outright screaming now. _

_Jayden didn't say anything; he just sighed. _

_"I'm sorry." Noelle couldn't tell if he was apologizing to her or Madison. "I... if I could turn back time, I would have made sure that none of this had ever happened."  
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_"Just take good care of her, alright?" She forced herself to smile in the direction of where the blurry Jayden was. Her eye lids felt so heavy and she finally gave into the temptation of closing her eyes._

_The last thing she remembered was Madison screaming her name and the numb feeling of someone slapping her cheeks._

0000

The girl who had been dreaming about her past woke up with a start. Sitting up, she gazed at the surroundings she had been seeing for... as long as she had been here.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the girl got up and stumbled towards the same river that soothed her to sleep earlier. Bending over by the edge, she peered down at her reflection; a girl with long platinum blond hair and light sky blue eyes stared back up at her.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear to get it out of the way of her eyes while her reflection did the same.

How long had it been since she died and departed from the world of the living on that faithful day? Noelle had tried to keep track but that was an impossible task since there was practically no sense of time wherever she was.

After her death, she had found herself surrounded by darkness and lying by the feet of a figure that could only be described as the grim reaper because whoever they were, they were wearing a dark cloak and their face was concealed from view. The figure weren't holding a scythe, but she wasn't about to ask them where it was.

The mysterious being conjured up a brown door that stood entirely on its own. She assumed that she was supposed to go through it, but she wasn't sure. The door, for all she knew, could lead her to hell.

Which had been a possibility at the time.

The figure jabbed their hand (which was thankfully fully fleshed like a human's) at the door and the girl reluctantly walked towards it, pressing down on its gold handle.

The door swung open to reveal a field, the kind you'd only see in the movies. Tall grass swayed occasionally with the wind and there were a variety of flowers scattered all around the field. She also saw a running river by her feet.

She stepped on to the grass, completely enamoured by the scenery. When she turned around to ask the figure where she was, the door had vanished taking the unknown cloaked person with it.

That was how Noelle found herself in the field that she assumed was the after life. In the time she had wandered around the Fields, she had found that she was the only person there.

She had yet to come across anyone else other than her no matter how much she searched or walked.

And she had walked. A lot.

Noelle was beginning to suspect that she was going around in circles because the scenery still looked the same.

With a sigh, she tugged up the white dress she had automatically found herself wearing when she had stepped through that door and swung her legs over the side of the river so that she could feel the cold water running against her bare flesh.

It made her feel almost alive again; the cold numbness of her legs when she stuck them in the river too long, the gentle wind that caressed her bare skin and the rough grass that was pressed beneath her feet whenever she walked.

She had discovered that she no longer needed to eat, drink or sleep in the Fields. Which was, in a way, a good thing since there wasn't anything to eat in the fields. Noelle could no longer feel the annoying hunger pangs that clawed at the insides of her stomach whenever she was hungry.

But at the same time she missed being hungry. Of being able to eat food. She could still drink the river water and go to sleep, but they were no longer the basic necessities she needed to keep her alive.

Then again she was already dead, so what was the point?

Closing her eyes, she smiled when the gentle breeze of the Fields touched her. She liked the wind in the Fields; it wasn't the harsh and cold wind she felt most of the time back on Earth.

Allowing her mind to drift, she nearly missed the feeling of warmth coming from behind her.

This made her eyes snapped open immediately and she whirled around. She had never felt anything so _warm _in the Fields. Of course the sun stood proudly in the sky and provided her with warmth, but the feeling on her back was very different than the sun.

What she was certainly not expecting to see was a tall, tanned muscular male figure standing behind her dressed in a gladiator outfit that left very little to the imagination (of his physical form, not down _there_). She couldn't see his face at all since it was hidden by a brown cowl.

Noelle reacted like any normal girl in her situation; she screamed loudly, instinctively jumping away from the sudden appearance of the visitor. This resulted in her falling backwards into the water with a splash.

She didn't even have time to take a breath of air as she submerged underneath the new element.

As the blond struggled within the strong grasp of the river, she realized that she didn't need to breathe either. It was a strange experience; her body was flailing within the thick waves as it unconsciously struggled to bring herself to the surface while her mind was amazed by the new phenomenon.

Eventually, Noelle obeyed her body's mixed signals of going up. She broke through the surface and her body instinctively inhaled the air around her like any swimmer who had been in the water holding their breath for nearly a minute.

The man was still there.

But now that she wasn't freaking out by how he suddenly appeared, she could see as plain as day something behind him that made her look twice.

She couldn't help but openly gape like an idiot at the sight.

"You have... wings..."

They looked exactly like the white, bird like wings she often saw in the paintings in church. There was no doubt in Noelle's mind that she was staring up at (and being stared by) an angel.

"Your time has come." The gladiator angel stated in a deep, monotone voice that matched with his physique. He was either completely ignoring the fact that Noelle was in a river that went up to her shoulders or he just didn't care at all.

"My time for what?" Noelle's eyes were wide as she continued to gaze at the gladiator angel, not being able to bring herself too look away from him even though his face was hidden and she was well aware that it was rude to stare.

Though considering that she had been staring at nothing but grass, flowers, the blue sky and the running river, he was certainly a sight for sore eyes.

"Your trial as an angel of heaven."

_"Excuse me?" _Noelle didn't even bother hiding the complete incredulous tone in her voice.

"I am only a messenger who has come to deliver a message. My role ends here but I will direct you to the one who will give you the tasks you must fulfill."

He stepped to the side and something appeared just behind the spot he was standing before.

It was a whirlpool of a variety of swirling colours. Blue, white, red and purple flashed within the whirlpool; Noelle estimated it to be as big as the gladiator angel.

Was it a portal? He said he was going to direct her to the one who was going to give her 'tasks' and it seemed that that was the only way she'd be able to go anywhere else other than the Fields.

She tried to push herself out from the water but after several minutes of struggling, she realized that she was probably going to need a bit of help. She glanced at the angel and saw that he wasn't moving; only watching her.

Cheeks burning, she realized that she must have looked really pathetic.

Noelle held out her arm towards him, a blow to her pride but if it got her out of the water faster she'd have learn to deal with it. "Do you mind helping me up?"

Without a word or any trace of exasperation, the angel bent down and hauled her up easily as if she was a rag doll.

As she stood in front of the portal (?) uncertainly, she looked over at the gladiator angel again. Now that Noelle was standing on even ground with him, she could tell that he was over six feet tall. With her being five foot four, Noelle was a dwarf in comparison.

"I go through this, right?" She asked him.

The only response she got from the gladiator angel was a curt nod.

Noelle stared at the whirlpool uncertainly and taking a deep breath, moved forward. She stuck her leg through the swirling mirage of colours and braced herself for what was going to be on the other side.

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><p><strong>I'm done! Yes, the first chapter does not depict any trace of KHR, but every person has a back story and it's tedious if my character didn't really have a back story. <strong>

**In a way, this story is similar to My Heavenly Judgement but of course I'm adding in some twists to make it different from what colbub worked hard on. And I have permission from the creator of that really awesome fic to work on this.  
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	2. Trial

**About a day after the first chapter is out, I decide to work on the second one. Probably because I have half of it planned out as well as a bunch of idea floating around in my head. Anyways, it's time to get started, so shall we?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I only own Noelle, the OC who will be starring in this fic. **

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><p><strong>Trial<strong>

Stepping through the portal was like walking into a thin sheet of cool water. If Noelle hadn't been so fascinated by what she she saw once she came through, she would have definitely investigated the gateway further.

It was like going from one scenario to another. One minute she was in the Fields and the next she was in an impeccably white room that actually sparkled.

The room was completely white save for the clear blue crystal that was protruding from the ground like a stalagmite.

"You're dripping on my floor." A voice commented dryly that made Noelle jump and look around warily. But there was no one else in the room. "What did you do, fall in the river?"

Looking down, Noelle realized that she was indeed soaking wet.

The owner of the voice sighed. "I'm behind the gigantic blue crystal that's sticking out of the ground like a stalagmite. And before you say anything, yes I can read your mind and am currently reading it right now."

Noelle frowned. She did not like having her mind tapped into.

"So does everyone else; you're no exception."

From behind the crystal, a woman with long hair the color of black ink stepped out into the girl's view. Her eyes were the same colour of the sky. She was tall too and could easily pass for being a super model.

"So," The woman said, ignoring Noelle's gaping stare. "You must be the one I'm suppose to give the trial to."

Her voice snapped Noelle out of her musing.

"Yes," Noelle flushed a little. "The gladiator angel who talked to me said that it was time for my trial as an... angel."

"Gladiator angel," The woman smirked. "Yes, that term suits Aelius just fine."

So the name of the man from earlier was Aelius?

"Anyways," She said, redirecting Noelle's attention back to her. "As Aelius said, I will be the one who will give you the trial to determine whether you are worthy of being an angel of heaven."

The woman cleared her throat. "But before we go on, I guess I'm going to have to introduce myself. I go by the name of Seria and I am the Angel of Trials. Aelius serves as a messenger and is an Angel of Judgement as well."

Noelle paled. She made a complete idiot of herself in front of the _Angel of Judgement_?

Seria smirked and Noelle could tell she'd been reading her mind again.

"He's _one _of them. Luckily for you, Aelius wouldn't care either way about you embarrassing yourself in front of him." A brown file appeared in her hand and Seria began leafing through it. "Here it is! Let's see... Nicole Allie Kennedy, born January 21st of 1993 and died on May 27th 2011..." The angel looked up. "You died pretty young and you didn't even get the chance to graduate either."

Well excuse her for being too busy trying to clear up Madison's reputation from complete and utter ruin at the hands of the rich bitch Angie Hart.

"One Angie Hart decided to shoot the current girlfriend of a Jayden Matthews. Instead, you shoved the person who was intended to get shot out of the way and took the bullets yourself. Cause of death: Exsanguination." Seria looked up. "The irony of it all is that after you're killed by someone who's named after an angel messenger, you get the chance to become one yourself."

"Uh... yeah." Noelle could actually feel the jabs stabbing at her. "Are you done reading my personal file yet?"

Seria smiled. "I already read the entire thing; I just wanted to make you feel uncomfortable for my own amusement."

Weren't angels supposed to be sweet and flowery? Not teasing and sadistic?

"You've been watching too many human movies about angels, kid."

And would she stop reading her mind?

"Sorry, nope." Seria laughed at the annoyed expression on Noelle's face. "It's fun this way!"

"Probably for you." Noelle huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "Can we please start talking about what I'm supposed to do to become an angel?"

The whole theory of becoming a flying winged person sounded... weird. It wasn't that she didn't believe in them at all, but she wasn't a particularly religious person who went to church every Sunday. She went sometimes, but that was it.

"You don't necessarily have to be religious or a saint to be able to ascend to heaven. Living your life to the fullest and treating others as you would treat yourself is enough. Also, you can't be a mass murderer or have committed some atrocious crime that's inhumane; those we drop straight to hell. Any more questions?" When the blond haired girl shook her head, Seria nodded. "Right then, as for your trial..."

The woman gestured towards the crystal and Noelle stared at it.

The surface of the crystal shimmered and when Noelle blinked, she saw the face of a boy with tall spiky brown hair and caramel eyes. He looked very familiar, but she couldn't place where he had seen him. Her memories of being alive were somewhat fuzzy and the only thing she could really remember with perfect clarity were the moments before she died.

"This poor soul is Tsunayoshi Sawada. Ever since he was small he's had very unfortunate luck with life in general. When he turns fourteen, his life is about to take a whole different direction; for better and for worse."

"Why?"

"Because a baby hitman tutor arrives at his house and reveals to him that he's a tenth generation mafia boss. After that, things are never the same for him. Though he does try to live a 'normal' life despite the chaos that he attracts."

That sounded really familiar but Noelle just couldn't place _where. _

"He makes friends, something his old 'no good' self wouldn't have been able to do, but also deals with a ton of crap such as a criminal trying to take over his mind, rebels battling for the half of the rings they were given and then traveling ten years into the future to deal with another mafia family who is trying to take over the world and the usual crap."

Noelle gazed thoughtfully at the boy displayed on the crystal. Noelle was certain she had seen him before and the abbreviated information about his past and what he's about to go through sounded like something she'd read before.

"It should sound familiar." Seria was reading her mind again. "After all, you've watched and read all about his adventures before."

"Tsuna, Tsuna," Noelle mused. "I know that I've heard that name before."

"Here," Seria gestured towards the crystal. "Maybe this will help."

The crystal shimmered again and this time a baby wearing a black suit with a black fedora hat. He was holding onto a green lizard and his black eyes seemed to have a mischievous twinkle that no toddler his age should have.

"A toddler wearing a fedora...?"

And then it hit her like lightning.

"Katekyo Hitman Reborn?" Noelle used to read the series online though she preferred the anime over the manga. "That's it!"

"You got it!" Seria began clapping and Noelle couldn't tell if she was actually being congratulated or being made fun of.

"I'm congratulating you!"

Why did she even bother?

"So what does the series have to do with me? I thought we were talking about my trial." Noelle looked at Seria in confusion.

"That _is _your trial!"

"My trial has to do with Tsuna?" Noelle didn't get what she was implying.

"Of course! You're going to be _his _Guardian Angel!"

At that, Noelle's mind blanked. She was going to be a Guardian Angel of a _fictional _character? Was this some sort of joke?

"It's not a joke at all. I suppose Tsuna's adventures are nothing but comic adventures in your dimension but I can assure you that he's as real as you and me."

Seeing her stunned expression, Seria smiled.

"Is it really that surprising to know that there are a variety of alternate dimensions and universes out there. What could be fictional in one dimension is actually somebody's life or life story in another. Basically, your trial will be in another dimension, different than the one you were born in."

"How come I can't be a Guardian Angel in my original dimension?" If she became a Guardian Angel in her world, Noelle would probably be able to see her friends and family!

For the first time since she had met her, Seria looked sad even though she still had a smile plastered on her lovely face. "Because in that dimension, you're already dead. You can't go back there; that's one of Heavens laws."

"...oh." Noelle looked away from her. So that meant she couldn't see any one she used to know ever again?

"But don't you think it'll it fun to work with your favorite characters?" Seria clapped her hands together again. "I mean, most people would love to be in your shoes."

The only response Seria received was an unamused blank stare.

"In your world, ten years have passed. Those you've known have learned to accept the fact that your no longer there but they will always remember you." Seria sighed giving here a tired smile as if this wasn't the first time she had to explain this sort of thing. "If you must know, your best friend and her boyfriend are happily married and have two children; a son and a daughter. They named the daughter after you."

"What about my family?" Noelle's breath hitched in her throat.

"Not a day passes that don't think about you but they've learned to move on with their lives too."

The girl blinked. Even if she couldn't see them ever again, it was still nice to know that they weren't suffering from her decision of deciding to run onto the path of a gun.

That made her happy in a bitter sweet way; the only thing she had ever regretted when she wondered about what was going on back on Earth was the amount of pain and grief her death would have undoubtedly caused to those around her.

"Do you want me to continue with what you're supposed to do?"

Noelle nodded; the news of her friends and family having rejuvenated her attentiveness to her trial.

"As I've said before, you are Tsuna's Guardian Angel. You will be his constant companion in times of trouble because so far, his life has been nothing but pitiful."

"You're ruthless."

"I'm only stating the truth."

Stating the truth or not, she was still pretty ruthless. Noelle felt sorry for the middle schooler and was glad that there was no way he'd be able to find out about the conversation she was having with this sadistic messenger of God.

"But you will also have your own part to play in the events that will occur." Seria stated. "You didn't honestly think you were going to be some sort of bystander who just gives Tsuna advice, did you?"

Having read other people's fanfics about self-inserts being dropped into their favorite fandom and then blabbering like idiots for the first two chapters at how the very concept of being dropped into what they thought was pure fiction couldn't be happening, Noelle could say that she was _not _looking forward to whatever fate had in store for her.

Self-inserts had pretty bad luck when it came to trying to keep the fact that they knew what was going to happen in the near time future to themselves along with adapting to the sudden situation they had been forced into.

But now that she thought about it, her discussion with Seria over the fact that she was going to be a Guardian Angel for someone she originally thought was fictional sounded like a fanfiction plot. But what if it was...

Noelle shook her head. She already had enough on her plate without having to think about _that. _

"Your brain would explode if you tried to delve even further."

"Can you please stop reading my mind?" Noelle sighed, placing a hand on the left side of her face. "Well a girl can dream, can't she? But what if I screw something up and the story line goes awry?"

Seria shook her head.

"Haven't I explained it to you enough?" She said wearily, breaking out of the cheerful teasing persona she had displayed in front of Noelle. "It's not just a story. These are actual people who live actual lives. You shouldn't think of them as characters who have their lives plotted out safely for them like it was in your world."

Noelle's cheeks burned pink. Seria was right; she'd have to stop thinking about Tsuna and the others as fictional characters in a manga or anime once she got there. She didn't want anyone to start having an identity crisis over the fact that they were fictional where she came from. And she had a feeling she wouldn't like it either if some person came up to her and told her she was a character in someone else's story.

"Don't worry, you'll get that kind of thinking out of your mind once you spend some time with them." Seria reassured her.

"So when do I start?"

"Glad you asked." Seria smiled so sweetly that Noelle was immediately on guard. She could instantly tell that she was not going to like what was going to come with that answer.

"Right now!" The woman snapped her fingers.

And suddenly it felt as if the floor beneath Noelle had disappeared. She looked down and found herself standing over a black hole that she was certain was not there before.

She looked back at Seria who was still smiling.

"Have fun~!" She exclaimed, waggling her fingers in a 'ta ta' fashion.

Noelle didn't even have the chance to scream as gravity decided to take hold of her and pull her down the hole.

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><p><strong>Were you seriously expecting an angel who was so sweet that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth? Well, I could have easily portrayed Seria like that but it's more fun this way!<strong>

**I was leaning on the fourth wall somewhere in the story... can anyone guess where?  
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	3. Serafin

**When I saw My Heavenly Judgement updated last Friday, I could have sworn I jumped up for joy and screamed at my MSN for alerting me to the fact. As I've said before, that story was the inspiration for my current fic, so if you have the time go and read it. **

**Also, a shoutout to colbub who mentioned my fic in her author notes. Thanks for that considering that afterwards, I had a ton of people putting this fic in their story alert list. Guys, don't just put this on your story alert; review too! I want to know what you, as the readers, think of my story!  
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**BTW, I have a question to ask you all: should I pair up my OC? Of course, it won't be my main focus but I want to know if you guys want Noelle to be paired up with someone.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or anything else to do with the franchise. I only own Noelle.  
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><p><strong>Serafin<strong>

As the darkness of her unconscious mind started to fade, Noelle could feel the back of her head thudding with a dull throb painfully. She could hear the voices of two people speaking over her for some strange reason as well.

"Look! Fresh meat!"

"Why are you saying that when you're standing over her holding a cleaver?"

Noelle hadn't been fully awake when she was aware of other people being near her, but the last comment combined with the first had her mind kicking into high alert. As her mind quickly started to formulate a plan to get away from the people immediately, she heard a third voice interrupt them.

"You do realize that she's listening to your every word right now, don't you?" The voice said dryly.

"She is?" The first two voices Noelle had heard speak said in sync.

There was a sigh and the third person, an older male, spoke. "Yes, she is." The male's sighed again. "Alright, you don't have to fake it any more."

Against her better judgement, Noelle forced her eyes open. Once her vision stopped blurring, she realized that she was lying on the hard floor and leaning over her were three people; two boys and a girl who were similar to her in age before she had died. The oldest of the trio, a guy, appeared to be her age while the other two were around the sixteen and seventeen range.

As she recalled the earlier conversation, the first voice that she had heard had been male and the second soon following after it was female. The boy who was holding the giant butcher knife in his right hand was no doubt the person who had spoken first.

Noelle could do nothing but stare blankly at him.

The girl who had no doubt been the one to question the boy on why he was holding a dangerous kitchen utensil in the first place smacked him across the head hard.

"Hey! What was that for?" The boy complained. He had golden blond hair and blue eyes that were darker than Noelle's as well as an authentic sounding Australian accent that Noelle was sure would have had the girls at Hollywood High squealing like fangirls.

"What do you think?" The girl snapped at him, scowling. She had shoulder length auburn hair and emerald green eyes that were flashing with anger as she glared at the boy. "You're scaring her with your stupid cleaver!"

"I am?" The boy looked puzzled... and annoyed.

"No. I'm sure it was a pleasant thing for her to wake up with someone holding a butcher knife over her." The girl's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

But before the two could break out into an argument that would have resulted in yelling and trying to throw someone into the wall, the oldest of the three interrupted the them again.

"Are you two really going to start this so early in the morning?" He asked dryly. He had black hair and hazel coloured eyes; he looked Japanese, but Noelle wasn't too sure. He appeared to be used to the boy and girl's quarreling.

The only response he got was an awkward silence.

"We should probably introduce ourselves." He said with a tired sigh. "I'm Arimoto Tsukasa. Tsukasa Arimoto if you go by the western pronunciation."

"I'm Stephen Carter! Nice to meet ya!" The blond haired boy winked at her.

"And I'm Heather Rosenfeld." The girl introduced herself. "So what's your name?"

"Noelle Kennedy." She tried to push herself off the floor, but after a minute of struggling, the only thing she was able to manage was rolling over on to her stomach with her face meeting polished wood.

"...right. Forgot that transition from the White room to the world of the living takes quite a bit out of you." Heather said, looking over at Noelle curiously after she had pulled off an accurate impression of a flopping fish on dry land. She turned towards her Japanese companion. "Hey, Tsukasa, carry her."

"Why me?"

"Cause you're a guy and I don't trust Stephen to carry her without feeling her up."

At that, Noelle stared at Stephen again wondering if he was the type of person she should avoid at all costs.

"You're making me look bad!"

"You don't need my help to look bad!"

And then the two teens were at each others' throats again with Noelle watching from the floor wondering if they were ever going to help her up or if she was going to be subjected to them talking over her until they remembered that she was right _there _listening to them_. _

With a look of exasperation on his face that clearly told her that he had gone through this scenario at least a million times, Tsukasa leaned down and scooped up Noelle in his arms.

"We better get you to your room. Those two will be at it for a while once they start."

And as Tsukasa carried Noelle out of the room, the blonde peered over his arm just in time to see Heather punching Stephen in the stomach with an upper cut.

"Are they always like that?" Noelle asked as she looked away from the deteriorating scene.

"It's usually much worse." Tsukasa rolled his eyes.

Shifting Noelle slightly in his arms_, _he turned the handle of a beautifully carved wooden door and it swung open open to reveal a room that was painted in shades of various blue. The bed was huge, at least king sized, with a princess canopy attached to the top of it.

And it wasn't just the bed that was huge; the entire room that Tsukasa brought her to looked as if it belonged to someone who lived in the mansions of LA. Not for someone who was born into a loving, middle-class family.

"This is your room_._" Tsukasa said, placing Noelle on the bed.

The girl was about to ask him if he was pulling her leg when she spotted her reflection on the mirror of a vanity table.

0000

"What was that?" Heather asked ten minutes later when she and Stephen peered into the room that Noelle had been brought in earlier. "We heard someone scream as if Jason was in their room trying to kill them."

Heather and Stephen had stopped fighting when they had heard someone's shrill shrieking and had decided to have a truce to go and investigate the source of the noise.

"Why do I look like I'm six? I'm eighteen!" Noelle was screeching as she stared at herself in the mirror. She was standing on the chair that came with the vanity table since without it, she would only be able to see the top of her head.

Staring back at her was a little girl with the same blue eyes and platinum blonde hair as her. A look of complete and utter disbelief as well as horror that she was sure was displaying on her own face was also etched onto the little girl's face.

Somehow, someway, she was back to being a six year old girl again.

She pulled on her cheeks and the little girl in the mirror did the same thing.

Stephen turned away from her, looking in Tsukasa's direction as he jabbed his thumb in Noelle's direction. "You forgot to tell 'er about that, didn't ya mate?"

Tsukasa flushed. "I was about to... but then she saw the mirror before I could say anything."

"WHY AM I SIX YEARS OLD AGAIN?" Was the shrill scream that came from the girl who was still staring at her own reflection.

0000

After managing to calm Noelle down, Heather promptly kicked the two boys out saying that only one person needed to explain what was going on and like hell was she leaving her in either of their company.

"So, what do you want to know?" The older girl asked as she dusted her hands off and turned to Noelle who was sitting on the huge bed sulking.

"Like why I LOOK like I'm SIX! I'm eighteen! EIGHTEEN!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down." Heather said, trying to settle the agitated blonde down before anything drastic happened.

Noelle fumed; how in the world was she supposed to calm down when she just reverted _twelve _years in age?

"Don't worry, this sort of thing is normal... for those who have already passed away in the worlds they were born in." Seeing Noelle's eyes widen and her head snap up towards her, Heather chuckled and ruffled the girl's hair.

"Yup. We're like you; beings who died in their original worlds and are now here as part of the trials they're supposed to complete."

Seria didn't mention anything about there being other Guardian Angels in the Katekyo Reborn Hitman world. Not that Noelle thought of herself as being the only Guardian Angel (or soon to be Guardian Angel) in the world, but then again the Angel of Trials didn't really explain anything to her other than the fact that she was going to be the protector of someone she had always thought of as being fictional.

"Oh."

One of Heather's eyebrows went up. "Didn't the Angel of Trial who gave you your task explain anything to you? You're awfully clueless, even if you're a new arrival."

Remembering how the raven haired angel just dropped her in a hole that magically appeared underneath her feet, Noelle's expression deadpanned. "Not at all, other than the fact that I'm going to be a Guardian Angel."

"So you're a 'Guardian Angel', then?" Heather asked.

"Isn't that what you are?" Noelle told her incredulously.

"No. I was given a different task." The older girl shook her head. "I go around... exorcising people."

"..." Noelle was sure she hadn't heard her right. Exorcising happened in mangas like Rin-ne or any other story that had to do with demons and evil spirits.

"Exorcising: To free a person, place or thing of evil spirits or malignant influences." Heather announced the definition as if she was reading it from the pages of a dictionary.

"So by that, you mean demons and poltergeists?"

"That's the general idea, yes." Heather folded her arms across her chest together and nodded.

"That kind of thing exists?" Not that Noelle would have denied the very idea; she had already gone through enough the past... well, after her meeting with Aelius and Seria especially, she wasn't about to go into denial over it. But this was the _Katekyo Hitman Reborn_ world. Sure, there were 'flames' you could produce from your hands with the elements 'sky, storm, and sun' ect. but _demons_?

"They exist in EVERY world; it's just that most people among the living don't realize it."

"But... this... rings! Flames and rings! Mafia fights with sky flames and storm flames! I've never read about demons and evil spirits!"

Heather looked amused by Noelle's outburst as well as thoughtful. "So you come from a world where the events of this world are fictional?"

Seeing the gaping look of surprise on Noelle's face, she smirked and ruffled the little girl's golden hair.

"Don't look so surprised; several of us come from worlds where the mafia here that uses multi-coloured flames is nothing but a story on pages. I'm not from one of those worlds but I know that idiot Stephen is."

"Kay." Noelle wasn't sure how much more she could take before her brain exploded infinitely. "Can we get back to answering my original question? Like why I'm suddenly six again? I can't guard Tsuna like this! He's fourteen!"

"Tsuna is the name of your charge?"

Noelle stared at Heather strangely. "Of course! Don't you know who he is?"

"Nope."

"He's the future Tenth Vongola Boss! Or at least candidate! How can you not know?"

For once, it was Heather's turn to gape at her. "Are you serious? Vongola?" She whistled. "Wow. That's impressive; wait till the others here about this!"

Why did she have the feeling that she had just entitled Heather to some bragging rights?

"We're getting off topic again. Can we please get to the reason as to why I'm like this?" Noelle gestured at herself. "And why I'm wearing strange clothes while we're at it!"

Noelle was no longer wearing the white dress she had on when she had been in the Fields; now she was wearing something that looked like it was straight from the pages of some sort of fantasy novel. She was now in a light blue dress with a white cloak jacket that had gold trim. The ends of her jacket ended in a swallow tail cape fashion. Actually, her costume was similar to the one Anise from Tales of the Abyss wore. Underneath the dress, she wore black leggings that were accompanied by beige knee high boots.

"Hmm... the costume probably came from the Angel of Trials you were sent to. As for your age reversal, it must be because your charge is probably around that age; most Guardian Angels tend to either be the same age or at least close to the age of the person they were assigned to."

"Wait, what? But the Tsuna I saw on the huge crystal was clearly in Middle School!" And there went her head wanting to implode on itself again.

"Ah," Heather winked at her. "But YOU need to learn and train for your assignment. This isn't like on television where you just hang around with your charge and give him good advice. And you aren't automatically granted awesome god-mode powers either; you have to earn your strength like the rest of the normal people around us."

"So I've been told." Noelle huffed. "Basically the reason why I've been sent here about eight years before my assignment starts is to train and learn stuff?"

"Yup! The older members of the Serafin will be the ones to teach you what you need to know!"

"Serafin?"

"We're a sort of family or famiglia as they say in Italy. We're part of the mafia, but at the same time we're in a completely different class of our own. Since things tend to revolve around the mafia in this world it makes sense to be involved with them, right?"

Noelle nodded slowly; that did make sense in a strange sort of way, but did anyone else see the irony of soon-to-be-angels working as _mafia _members to be ironic?

"Uh... how big is the Serafin family?"

"Not that big; so far, there's only seventy-eight of us, including you. We don't accept outsiders, since, you know...?"

Well, it _would_ probably be hard to explain that you're actually from another world. Also, that you died in that world and were now in this one because you were completing a trial to see if you were worthy to go to Heaven.

"But size does not matter. We maybe one of the smallest famiglias in this world but we're also one of the most influential." Something glimmered in Heather's emerald green eyes as she said this. "Others tend to suck up to us a lot in hopes that we'll do special favours for them."

"Do we have any allies?" Noelle asked. "Or do we treat everyone as equals and aren't aligned with anyone in particular?"

"We're well acquainted with the Vongola and the Giglio Nero." Heather mused. "But those are the only famiglias I can think of. There's a Russian famiglia name that escapes me, though."

"Somehow, that's not very surprising considering that they're both some of the most influential families in Italy."

"It's not that." Heather shook her head before looking at Noelle seriously. "It's because one of us happened to be the Guardian Angel of the first Vongola boss, though she had her hands full with his right hand man as well."

"The Serafin have been around that long?" Noelle asked.

"Probably longer. We didn't become a 'famiglia' till after one of them had to start watching the Vongola Primo."

The younger girl opened her mouth, but Heather shook her head again effectively cutting her off. "But that's a story for another day. C'mon, you must be tired... and trust me on this one, you'll have quite a week ahead of you." Heather grinned at her. "Or month. Depends on how well you'll adapt to your training."

Noelle had a feeling that it was going to be a very long eight years if that slasher smile on the older girl's face was anything to go by.

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><p><strong>It took a few days, but it's done. Sorry it's slow, but I wanted to work on some background story for Noelle. And yes, I did get permission of the concept of being part of a famiglia from colbub, but I assure you again I'll make things different. Besides, they all have normal eye colours don't they? <strong>

**Don't forget to Review!  
><strong>


	4. Departure

**Hmm... If I were to choose a pairing for Noelle, it would probably be Tsuna.  
><strong>

**Why? Because I think he's probably the only one I could pull off without Noelle feeling awkward and everything. Yamamoto and Hibari would work, and Gokudera would probably just make a good friend. Anyways, I appreciate all the suggestions you've sent me! But the pairings would probably be more centered around the the tenth Vongola boss and his Guardians.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Katekyo Hitman Reborn franchise. I do, however, own Noelle Kennedy.**

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><p><strong>Departure<br>**

"Ngh..." Noelle was sprawled face down on the couch, every one of her muscles screaming in agony after the day's training from hell. No matter how much she got used to being pushed past her physical limits, her trainers would find new and creative ways to surpass _those _limits.

The blonde understood the need to train her; she was going to be the Guardian Angel of Tsunayoshi Sawada, the future tenth Vongola boss, Juudaime, Decimo, and whatever else he was called. Because after Reborn tells him the news of being the one and only sole candidate of the tenth generation Vongola boss, his life pretty much gets thrown into turmoil from either the baby hitman's insane training sessions or other mafiosos chasing after him. Thus, he needed a Guardian Angel who was well versed in fighting.

But would it seriously kill them not to push her so hard that she can't move for the rest of the day or would they lose their title of sadist trainer if they allowed her breaks during intervals?

Noelle tried to push herself off the couch in her room only to succeed in falling on the white plush carpeted floor with a loud thud.

"Sarah and Feliciano are evil." Her words and groan being muffled by the carpet.

The two aforementioned were her tutors in weapons usage and physical combat respectively over the years since she had arrived. They were nice enough outside the training room, but in the battle field they really knew how to hand it to Noelle as proved by the bruises she had earned every single day since they began teaching her.

Sarah was a black belt in martial arts who was skilled in the art of wielding a bo. After a lot of debate on what type of weapon Noelle would wield when it came to fighting, it was decided that she should be taught in the art of bojutsu since she was entering an educational environment. Plus it was highly doubtful that she'd be able to sneak in with guns without getting arrested.

Not that Noelle was eager to use the very weapon that had killed her in the first place.

"Besides," Sarah had said when Noelle had been sulking unhappily about the decision, "the weapon combined with your super strength is deadly in itself!"

Much to Noelle's displeasure, she still maintained the inhuman strength she had inherited from her father who had inherited it from _his._ Many of the Serafin had considered her lucky to be able to surpass most people in terms of physical strength but Noelle usually found herself facing the downside of being able to easily break a table with one punch.

How many times through out the years had she broken cups, plates and cracked tables? How many times had she smashed the cutting boards and cracked the counters whenever she tried to help out in making the meals in her house? It had gotten so bad that her mom had actually banned her from the kitchen infinitely until she could rein in her strength.

But even she had to admit that her strength would probably be a valuable asset in the world that was Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The only thing she had to learn now was how to not break everything she touched.

Looking up from the floor, she saw her mechanical alarm clock stating that the time was nine-thirty at night.

Groaning, the girl forced herself up to walk over to her bed only to collapse on top of it. It smelled strongly of her favorite vanilla scent and as much as she wanted to bury her head into the sheets and inhale it, she forced herself to set the clock of her alarm for eight am.

The good thing about Noelle's harsh training schedule was that they didn't force her to wake her up at some godforsaken time early in the morning (such as the crack of dawn). Unfortunately, she was also NOT a morning person so eight am was still pretty early for her.

As she placed the clock back on to the top of the white mini book shelf that was next to her bed, the now twelve year old girl caught a glimpse of a bruise that was beginning to darken on her arm.

It was a newly made bruise that Feliciano had dealt her just an hour ago when they had been parrying blows for the day's training session. Though he was twenty (he had been thirty two when he had died), the man really knew his combat and had taken it upon himself to teach her how to defend and fight barehanded.

Even in his former life, he had been part of the mafia then. Though he missed his old famiglia, he stated that the mafia workings in this world were much more exciting than his previous one.

Clumsily reaching up for the light switch that was near her bed, Noelle flicked it off. She didn't bother getting changed; her muscles felt like jelly and it had taken a lot of effort on her part to move from her place on the floor to the bed. As she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she was unaware of her door being opened by someone who had been waiting for her to drift off into slumberland.

0000

Noelle woke up feeling more refreshed than she ever had as she sat up in her bed and stretched her arms above her head. She stifled a yawn and rubbing her bleary eyes, peered at the clock on the top of her white book shelf.

"Huh?" The girl blinked.

That was strange; her alarm clock wasn't there. She was sure that she had set it to ring last night too.

Noelle hopped off the bed and bent down to look underneath it. Maybe she had accidentally knocked it off or something? But when she checked, it wasn't on the floor. She moved the shelf to see if it had fallen behind it (which she highly doubted but she checked anyways since alarm clocks didn't just up and walk away) only to find that not only was her clock not there, the cord was missing as well.

There was nothing plugged into the electric socket.

"Did someone take it?" That was the only conclusion Noelle came to. Someone obviously took it from her room when she was asleep last night, but the question was _why_?

It was another Serafin since there were no maids in the mansion and no one in their right mind would break into the mansion if they knew was good for them, that much Noelle knew, but why the heck would they walk off with her_ clock _of all things?

Noelle paled when she remembered why she had set up the alarm clock in the first place. She had been late for her morning training session one time and after Sarah punished her for her tardiness, she had vowed never to be late for a training session ever again. Nothing was worth what she had to suffer that day just because she was ten minutes late.

Quickly getting dressed, she raced down to the kitchen where the only other clock that wasn't in anyone's room was out for everyone else to see. It took her a good five minutes to get there because the mansion was so damn big. Once she entered the kitchen and spotted the time, it took about every ounce of Noelle's self control not to drop onto the floor and start twitching.

The girl had guessed as much that it was past eight; what she didn't expect it to be was twelve thirty in the afternoon!

She was doomed.

Infinitely doomed.

Sarah was going to kill her.

Or at least make her training an even bigger hell than it already was.

"AUGH!" Noelle immediately made her way to the training room where Demon Teacher number one was probably waiting. It was better to get her punishment over with rather than try to avoid the woman like the plague; Stephen had made that fact clear with Heather surprisingly backing him up on that statement.

Once she got to the door, she pulled down the handle and yanked it open expecting to see a very angry trainer...

...only to be met with confetti exploding into her face.

"SURPRISE!" Various voices yelled from inside the room.

Noelle gawked as she saw streamers and balloons hung up all around the room that Sarah and Feliciano were usually beating their training into her. Right in the middle, surrounded by at least fifteen people, was a huge five layer chocolate cake.

"Uh... what is... um... why is there a cake in the middle of the training room?" She asked as her eyes gazed at it hungrily. She hadn't eaten breakfast yet and it was well past noon.

"Silly!" Sarah said in a cheerful tone that had Noelle flinching and inching away backwards in fear. "It's your thirteenth birthday!" She blew on the party horn she was holding and was that a _party hat_ she was wearing?

"It's January 21st?" Noelle blinked. "Wait, IT IS?"

Where did the time go? Well, it was probably hard to keep track of days, weeks, and months when you were being tossed from one end of the room to the other as well as having multiple languages and _math _being burned into your brain altogether.

"That is the day you were born, is it not?" Feliciano chuckled. His amber eyes twinkled with amusement at his pupil's stunned surprise.

Noelle nodded in dumb shock. She was still trying to get over the fact that both her trainers were in the same room not beating her up for once. And they were both celebrating her BIRTHDAY.

"Come on!" Heather bounded away from the group and took Noelle by the arm as she dragged her towards the towering cake. "We've been waiting for you all morning! Yeesh, you weren't kidding when you said that you weren't a morning person. We've been ready for over an hour!"

"You planned this?" Noelle looked up incredulously at the girl who had been like a sister to her over the years she had been with the Serafin. "All of it?"

"Of course we did! In a few months you'll be leaving for Japan so we decided that we should celebrate your last birthday here in Casa Serafin!"

Before Noelle could ask about anything else on the topic, a boy who was sixteen years old and who went by the name of Arthur stated that there would be a time to explain all that after the party.

But for now, it was her birthday and she could bet damn well that they were going to celebrate it.

And they did. They celebrated all day long and well into the night.

0000

The next day Noelle got another day off from her training since practically everyone from her party the previous day was hung over from the amount of alcohol they had indulged in. Apparently, her birthday was also an excuse to break out the liquor and get drunk.

"Are they going to do this at my birthday, too?" Asked the most recent Serafin member along side her, Aaron. He had died when he was nineteen thanks to one of the idiot drunks he was driving home. He was killed when the drunk in the front passenger seat had grabbed the steering wheel which then veered into a railing and then over the edge of a cliff.

"I think so." Noelle deadpanned as she nudged an out cold Stephen with her foot.

Since she and Aaron were minors (Aaron was going to be the same age as her in July) they weren't allowed to drink anything other than the carbonated sodas that were there for their convenience even though the latter had argued that before he had died, he was legal to get drunk.

He still wasn't allow to drink any alcoholic beverages.

Finally in the evening when they had cleaned up everything and no one was moaning about their self-indulgence the night before was Noelle able to get her answers.

"You're leaving for Japan in the middle of March so that you have a few weeks to settle down before you start at Namimori." Tsukasa explained to her.

"But I thought that I would be going next year when I was fourteen?" Noelle cocked her head to the side in confusion as she fiddled with the silvery blue baton that Sarah had given to her for her birthday.

At least it, looked like a baton. While Noelle had looked at the object it with barely concealed disappointment, Sarah had taken the object from her and pressed a well hidden button that extended the baton's ends and turned it into a staff. It looked exactly like the wooden ones that the woman had been training her to use for years, except that it wasn't made of wood but the metal of Fortissirum that was unique to those in their famiglia.

Fortissirum was considered the strongest and most endurable metal in the world and only the members of the Serafin had it in their possession and had used the metal to forge all their weapons with.

"Well we thought so too but I come from Japan so I know how the schooling system there works and I decided to look into it. If you'd been born past the month of April, then you'd start out as a first year at Namimori Middle School when you are fourteen."

"...I don't get it." Was Tsukasa expecting her to do the math? Because even though she had improved on the worst subject to have ever existed, she still sucked at it.

"You're born before April 1st, thus making you thirteen when you attend as a first year."

"I still don't get it."

Tsukasa sighed. "The Japanese school year begins on April. That's all you need to know."

0000

"Are you sure you have everything? You checked twice, didn't you? You have map of the Namimori and the address of the apartment you're staying in with you in your bag?" Sarah asked for what had to be the twentieth time since they had gotten to the airport.

Noelle was unable to answer due to being paralyzed both mentally and physically. Was this seriously the same woman who kicked her butt everyday whenever they sparred together?

"I'm sure she does." Feliciano said, pulling Sarah back. "You've already asked her many times."

It was now the middle of March and the day that Noelle was leaving for Japan. Everything had been prepared for her in advance and her entrance into Namimori middle school had been already approved. Seeing her off at the airport were the Serafin members she had interacted with the most; Heather, Stephen, Tsukasa, Feliciano, Sarah and Aaron.

"Don't worry Aaron. You're leaving for your assignment soon too, mate!" Stephen ruffled the boy's hair when he saw the sulky expression on his face.

"Yeah, I guess so." Aaron muttered, looking away and glowering at nothing in particular.

"Well, it's time." Heather said, glancing up at the electronic listings of flights. "You should get ready to board. Don't forget to send us souvenirs and postcards. You have the address that you're supposed to send the postage too, right?"

Noelle hefted the backpack on her shoulders and nodded. It was the only carry on with her since all of her stuff had been sent to Namimori ahead of her already.

Giving Heather one last good bye hug, she gripped the ticket in her hand before going through the gate.

This was it.

She was finally going to Japan.

* * *

><p><strong>This is a little shorter than the previous chapter and I did a lot of time skipping, but I can finally say she goes to Namimori. The next chapter should probably be out next week since I got this out pretty fast, huh? <strong>

**But rest assured, you'll definitely see some of the Katekyo Hitman Reborn characters in the next chapter. At least I hope so. Reborn won't show up till probably two chapters ahead or maybe three. It depends.**

**And guys, don't forget to review!  
><strong>


	5. Hibari Kyoya

**And we are on Chapter Five. Man, I'm typing these out like there's no tomorrow and I'm slowly working on my Black Pages theme one-shots slowly even though the first chapter only took me an hour to type out. Anyways, guess I'm typing this out because I got the idea of how I'm going to start this chapter off. **

**I forgot to say this last chapter, but KarinMaaka07 created a fic of her own called ****Fate That's Just a Sketch**** based on colbub's ****My Heavenly Judgement**** and mine. If you guys have the time, go and check it out. I'm honoured to have inspired someone to write a fic, even if I'm only partially responsible.**

**Don't forget to read the Author notes below!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I only own Noelle and the changes in plot that involve her.**

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><p><strong>Hibari Kyoya<strong>

For what had to be one of those rare moments in her life, Noelle was up before seven. Before, she'd need the help of her alarm clock to accomplish that but today she had actually managed to get up on her own. Though she was still somewhat sleepy, she knew that if she fell asleep again she'd probably wake up three hours later and would be late for her first day at Namimori Middle School.

Which was not a good thing considering who headed the up Namimori Middle Discipline Committee in the first place.

"Ugh... what a great way to start off." Noelle muttered as she vividly remembered her first encounter with the demon skylark.

About a week ago, when Noelle had decided to go see what the school she was soon going to attend was going to be like, she had come across the actual and in live tonfa wielding delinquent Kyoya Hibari who made it clear that he didn't like her being near the school grounds when she wasn't a student there.

Yet.

She only had to see the flash of his concealed weapon to know that she was to get out of the area _immediately. _

So while she looked forward to attending the school where she'd meet Tsuna and the others, she was definitely not looking forward to the part where she'd have to see Hibari again.

He didn't seem as scary as everyone thought he was in the anime or manga when you were behind the lines of reality and fiction reading about Tsuna's adventures, but it was a whole different perspective when she had come across him face to face and he had been out for her blood.

And since it was _Hibari_, he'd probably recognize her; not that it was a hard thing considering that she had the stereotyped all-american girl looks which she hated with a passion. That sort of thing made you stand out; especially when you were in a foreign country in a town like Namimori.

Thinking about the people she had once recognized as being characters in a manga, she remembered one evening when she had just narrowly missed being run over by Ryohei Sasagawa when he was doing one of his training regiments. She had been out for a walk when she saw the tanned middle schooler running towards her. Fast.

She had barely managed to throw herself out of the way.

Finishing up her breakfast which was cereal and buttered toast, she dumped the dishes in the sink and quickly washed them before heading to her bedroom and getting dressed in the school uniform that she had been provided with.

She examined herself in front of the body length mirror that her _condo _(it was way too nice and shiny to call an apartment) provided for her. The skirt was black and she wore a white blouse with a red bow tied on it. Since it was spring, she had to wear a beige coloured blazer with the Namimori Middle crest over top the blouse.

Having gone to a public schools for most of her first life, it was definitely going to take her a while to get the whole japanese school uniform concept down.

Brushing the long strands of hair that came down to the middle of her back, Noelle wondered if she should get a hair cut. It was easier to fight with short hair, but she could also easily tie it back with an elastic.

But the thing was was that she had also grown quite fond of her hair being long. Back at the Serafin mansion, she had wanted to cut her hair but most of the other females didn't want her to; apparently, they designated her as their dress up doll and often did her hair in various styles or made her wear frilly clothes or other things they wanted to see her in.

The bad thing about it was that she had grown so accustomed to having her hair put in various styles, she always had to wear something in her hair. Whether it was a hair clip, a ribbon, a headband or it just had to be tied back in either a pony tail. Geez, she felt like she was the new Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket. She could probably easily cosplay as her too if Noelle's hair was dark brown instead of platinum blonde and her eyes were a darker shade of blue.

After a five minute debate that consisted of her standing in front of the mirror and wondering how she should do her hair, she decided on brunches. She divided her hair up into two sections and using two black elastics with blue coloured balls attached, tied them into low ponytails that lay on her shoulders.

"That should do it!" She exclaimed, examining her handiwork proudly. Noelle had wanted to add in the red ribbons she had gotten for her birthday but decided that would make her seem too standoffish- not to mention she wasn't sure if it was allowed in the rules and she did not want to find out by Hibari chasing her all around the school.

Glancing at the thin wristband watch on her arm, she saw that it was nearly eight. School wouldn't start for a bit, but it wouldn't hurt to leave now to check what class she was going to be in.

And it would be nice not to always be rushing for class before the last bell would ring like she always did she was still alive.

0000

_"Angel gene?" A ten year old Noelle asked as she sat on the grass cross legged._

_She was sitting in the huge garden in the Serafin estate surrounded by trees whose leaves were gently blowing in the wind accompanied by the sound of birds chirping. This was usually where she went for her Serafin history lessons since her teacher who taught her their history preferred the great outdoors rather than teaching in a stuffy room._

_Sitting in front of Noelle was a woman with shoulder length blonde hair even lighter than her's that it could be white and hazel green tinged eyes. She was wearing a white dress with a ring of flowers on her head, also sitting cross legged. If there was only one word that could be used to describe her, it was that she looked like a hippie._

_"Yes." The woman said. She was Noelle's teacher in Serafin history; something Noelle found fascinating to learn. "It's what we use to explain our different... body physiology."_

_Since they had already died, their bodies in the world they went to complete their trials was a bit different than those of the actual living. It was a reminder that while they weren't entirely dead any more, they weren't fully alive either._

_They were more durable, so pain wasn't a concerning factor but they also had to be careful about it. That meant they had to fake many of their injuries being more serious than they actually were. _

_Many people in the mafia world were already interested in the Serafin and it didn't need to be said that they should give any more reason as to why they should be scrutinized by those greedy eyes. While Vongola may have been the most powerful famiglia in Italy, the Serafin were known as being the most mysterious not only in Italy but the entire world._

_"Can we get killed?" Noelle asked._

_"No." Her teacher replied. "But that's another factor working against us and something we especially have to be extremely cautious about." _

_"Huh?" Noelle looked surprised. "But if we can't get killed, doesn't that mean we're likely to complete our trial since we're basically guaranteed not to kick the bucket?"_

_"Yes. We don't die until our trial is completed." The woman nodded. "But if we're struck fatally and are still alive, how do we explain it to those who witnessed us surviving a fatal blow?" _

_"Uh..." Her teacher had made a very good point. Exactly __**how **__would she be able to explain getting shot in the heart and walking around like nothing ever happened? _

_Noelle thought about it for a few minutes and came to the conclusion that she would not be able to bluff her way out of that one._

_"So how do we depart from this world after our trial?" Noelle changed the topic since she wasn't able to get an answer to her previous question._

_"We disappear the same way we died in our previous world." The teacher sighed softly. "I was killed during an earthquake when part of the already exposed structure of my house fell on top of me so it's likely that's how I'll die in this world as well." _

_Noelle blanched; did that mean she was going to get shot again when her time came?_

0000

Noelle had gotten to school with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately...

"You're that herbivore from last week."

Standing behind her and pressing his tonfa against her neck was the one and only Hibari. She knew that it would only be a matter of time when he confronted her, but first thing in the morning when she was checking to see what class she was going to be in was _ridiculous._

Then again, he had been hiding in the shadows somewhere surveying the students who entered the school grounds. She had barely sensed his presence before he had his weapon at her throat.

"Um... nice to see you again?" Noelle winced when the head of the Namimori Middle Discipline Committee tonfa dug even further into her skin. "Hey! Watch it!"

Around them, various students stopped to watch the scene unfold. The second and third years could only guess too well what the delinquent was about to do to the poor student who had caught his eye. The first years who had no idea who Hibari was were going to learn first hand as to why he shouldn't be annoyed.

"Dyeing your hair is against the school rules." He stated.

Noelle could feel a vein popping up from behind her head. That's why he was threatening her? He thought she had actually _dyed _her hair?

She whirled around to glare at the most feared person of the school. She didn't care that he could beat her to the ground, but like hell was she going to let him get away with implying that she had dyed her hair.

"This is my _natural hair colour._" She told him, annoyance lacing her every word.

Noelle heard the people around them gasp. No one stood up to Hibari; even those who didn't know what he was like. His glare was enough to put off any one who had the notion of telling him off.

Hibari didn't seem fazed by her outburst but then again, as far as Noelle knew, hardly anything made him bat an eyelash.

There was silence as everyone waited with abated breaths as to what would happen next.

With a grunt, Hibari turned away from her and walked off to continue his student watching.

Noelle wasn't the only one who stared after him with disbelief as onlookers gawked. Did he just let her go without saying his trademark phrase of 'I'll bite you to death' translated as 'kamikorosu' in Japanese? She stared at his retreating form for a few seconds before turning back to the class listings for the freshman to try and find what class she was in before Hibari had so rudely interrupted her.

She ignored the whispering around her as the other students began talking about the new girl (who was a _gaijin _none the less) standing up to Hibari without so much as a trace of fear and did not get beaten for her efforts.

While she gave off the pretense of looking for her name on the board and not being bothered by their whisperings, she was biting down on her lip; something she did when she felt uncomfortable in a situation.

Noelle finally spotted her name on the list for Class 1-A. Her eyes roamed the paper and to her delight she saw that the very boy she was suppose to be protecting was in the same class with her along with Yamamoto, Kyoko, Hana and eventually Gokudera.

_Yes! _Noelle broke out into a smile for the first time that morning.

She turned away and headed inside the school to find her class for the rest of the year.

0000

It shouldn't have surprised her that the news about her standing up to Hibari had already spread through out the school. Some things like gossip were just universal no matter where you went.

Practically everyone she had come across stared at her while also standing a respectable distance away. After all, someone who could stand up to _him _deserved some kind of respect.

She finally found her assigned classroom and walked in...

...only to find more people staring at her.

Noelle sighed and concentrated on going over to the back seat at the row closest to the windows. At least she'd be able to avoid most of the stares; but once she plopped into the seat, people still found a way to steal glances at her.

She contemplated the idea of glaring at them to tell that she didn't appreciate being the target of gossip, but that would probably make things worse and earn her a reputation that would probably scare away Tsuna; something that she did _not _want because it was hard to protect someone who was terrified of you.

"Think that maybe she's a delinquent?" She heard someone say. "I mean, her hair is _blond_e."

"Nah. She told that scary guy it was her natural hair colour." Someone whispered back. "Plus, she has _blue _eyes. She's definitely a foreigner!"

"How do you know? She could be wearing contacts!"

"Don't think so! There was a 'Serra Noelle' written on the class list; I bet that's her!"

Noelle slammed her head into the desk with a groan, tempted to repeat the action several times. But she didn't want to give her future classmates even more fuel to talk about; she had enough being the center of attention for one day, thank you very much.

Instead, she allowed herself to rest her forehead against the cold wooden surface of the table as she tried to drown out the noise.

"Oof!" A sudden crash made her look up but she couldn't see anything. Several of her classmates peered around their desks to see what the commotion was all about and when they saw the cause of the noise, several of them broke out into laughter.

Noelle couldn't see what it was that her peers found amusing from where she was sitting, but she had a feeling about what the source of the noise was. She got up from her desk and walked to the front of the room to find someone sprawled all over the floor.

It was a boy with tall spiky brown hair. His eyes were closed as he grimaced at the impact of falling onto the floor and he didn't seem to realize that Noelle was standing right over him.

Reaching out, she grabbed the boy by his upper arm and easily hauled him up as if he weighed as much as a feather. It wasn't that hard a feat with her cursed super strength that could easily send anyone she punched flying into a wall.

"Eh?" The boy opened his eyes and blinked at her with light brown orbs.

It was definitely him.

The boy she had helped up was Tsunayoshi Sawada, the future tenth Vongola boss.

She smiled at the boy, unable to contain her joy at finally meeting the person she had been assigned to protect. "That sounded painful. Are you okay?" She asked.

Tsuna stared at Noelle dumbfounded, not quite sure as to what he should say. His face turned bright red and he stammered when he tried to speak to her, not quite able to comprehend that someone had been nice enough to help him, much less a girl. The only one who had ever given him the time of the day was Kyoko-chan.

"Y-yes." He gulped, his eyes unable to meet hers. "Th-thank you very much!" He bowed.

"You're welcome!" Noelle was still smiling. It seemed that despite the fact he was practically mocked everyday by his own classmates, he still had manners. "But you don't need to bow to me when you thank me. I just did what any person in my position would do."

Noelle spotted his school bag quite a distance from where he had fallen. She was about to go over and pick it up when someone else beat her to it.

A girl with fair skin, orange hair and soft golden eyes walked over to them. She handed Tsuna the bag also smiling.

"Here you go, Sawada-kun!" She said cheerfully.

Noelle didn't think it was possible since she was in an actual reality where the people and events of Katekyo Hitman Reborn were real, but were Noelle's eyes deceiving her or were those actual sparkles behind the girl? She could already tell who the classmate was by her appearance only, but the sparkles...the sparkles pretty much spelled it out.

It was the one, the only, naive, kind and caring Kyoko Sasagawa; the School Idol and the object of Tsuna's blatantly obvious affections.

Tsuna seemed utterly speechless this time as his face reddened ten fold with him holding onto the very bag his crush had returned to him.

His face was completely red and his mind seemed to have died at that exact moment making it impossible for him to form any words in his head, much less say them. Noelle turned away slightly from him chuckling at his compete flabbergasted expression, her shoulders shaking as she tried not to outright laugh at him.

"Sawada!" A fourth voice interrupted, giving Noelle a chance to contain her laughter.

A girl with long black wavy hair and grey eyes who Noelle recognized as Kyoko's best friend in Namimori Middle, Hana Kurokawa, snorted at the boy's completely beet red face.

"Two cute girls talk to you and the only thing you could do is just stand there and gape like an idiot?"

It was Noelle's turn to redden as she realized that Hana just called her 'cute'. Not once had anyone actually called her cute (okay, except the Serafin but they didn't really count since she had been six at the time). Her super human strength seemed to throw most people off and according to society, you had to look like a 'come save me' damsel in distress to either be considered cute or pretty.

And not be able to out strength the boys because no one wanted a girl who could easily emasculate you.

"H-Hana-chan!" Kyoko sounded as horrified as Noelle felt at being referred to as such.

"What? It's true." Hana actually 'tsked' at the boy who seemed ready to faint on the spot. "The School Idol and the beautiful foreigner all on the first day of school. He should consider himself lucky."

"Um, how about we just get back to our seats?" Noelle coughed, her cheeks tingling as she tried to fight down the blush forming on her face. "Class is going to start soon..."

She turned away from her three classmates, walking to her desk as fast as her legs could take her.

Her first day at Namimori Middle could not end soon enough.

* * *

><p><strong>This is my longest chapter and I wrote it all in one day! One freaking day! This was thanks to colbub's review which somehow kicked my mind into over drive. So instead of next week, you're going to get this fic... the very next day! And yes Hibari, Tsuna, Kyoko and Hana are all in it! Don't worry, you'll meet Yamamoto in the next chapter and Reborn after that. <strong>

**Speaking of Yamamoto, should I have him attempt to commit suicide like he did in the manga or just stick to the anime?**

**Kyoko was the school idol back when they were in elementary, so it isn't too hard for Hana to figure out that the same thing would happen when they entered junior high. **

**And if you didn't know, 'Gaijin' means 'outsider' in Japanese. Which Noelle clearly is to a majority of her classmates.**

**Anyways, I want you guys to review! I know that over twenty of you have this story on their alert list!**


	6. Friends

**I'm currently in the Varia arc and I just finished watching Superbi Squalo getting his ass handed to him by Yamamoto. I can't believe he and Japan from Axis Powers: Hetalia actually have the same voice actor. Seriously; compare the two characters together and see where I'm having my doubts. **

**Just to tell you again, I'm following the anime story line but I may take things from the manga so that the story makes more sense... such as whether our favorite baseball nut joins Tsuna's family because Tsuna saves him after he tries to take his own life via jumping off the school roof. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, but Noelle is a character I created specifically for this fic. **

* * *

><p><strong>Friends<strong>

"Serra-san, come and have lunch with us!"

It took Noelle a few seconds to realize that it was _her _the person was calling over. She glanced over in the direction of where the voice had come from to see Kyoko waving her over with Hana.

So far it had been an uneventful few weeks with nothing out of the ordinary happening. No Tsuna declaring his love for Kyoko while wearing nothing but his boxers, no various explosions all happening in Namimori courtesy of a certain smoking bomb Gokudera, and no sadistic Reborn putting Tsuna through pure hell as he trains him to be worthy of the title of Vongola Decimo.

The only thing worth noting was that Noelle had caught several boys in the act of forcing Tsuna to be their gopher about a week ago. Noelle promptly fixed that by threatening to kick their butts in front of the whole school where everyone could see them being publicly humiliated by a girl, a threat they took very seriously after one guy had to recover in the nurse's office after he had implied she was stupid due to her hair colour.

And all she had done was _lightly _punch him.

Grabbing a nearby desk, Noelle pushed it over to make Kyoko and Hana's two desk island into a threesome.

Okay, that just sounded _wrong. _

"Huh, store bought food again?" Hana asked, shaking her head at the plastic container bento that was holding Noelle's meal.

"Yup." Noelle said curtly. She did not want to go into a long conversation explaining why she couldn't make home made meals without destroying something. And anything she _did _manage to make always looked unappetizing.

"Can't you cook, Serra-san?" Kyoko asked her.

"Not really." Noelle said, carefully phrasing her words. "The only thing I can actually make without anything going wrong are cupcakes."

"So how come you decided to attend school here?" Hana asked, leaning forward.

"Hana-chan!" Kyoko scolded her friend lightly. It was rude to ask something like that!

'What? I'm just curious." Her friend said. "I just want to know why she decided to attend school here in Namimori instead of Tokyo or something. That's where most foreigners go, anyways."

"Hana..."

"It's fine." Noelle smiled at Kyoko reassuringly. "I can see where Kurokawa-san is coming from." Phew, she remembered to add the suffix '-san' at the end of her classmate's name. She did not want a repeat of the incident with the second year girls.

Hana snorted. "Don't be so formal; call me by my first name."

"But to answer your question, the one who taught me Japanese used to live here."

That was a blatant lie, but she could hardly tell the girls that she had actually come to Namimori to do her job as Tsuna's Guardian Angel.

"He said this was a nice place. Also, I prefer towns over huge cities. Much more quieter, the air's cleaner and you don't feel like a sardine in a can whenever you cross the street."

She wasn't sure if Tokyo was actually that populated since her example had come from her watching television but it made a good excuse as to why she preferred a town like Namimori where people weren't so used to foreigners rather than Tokyo where they weren't such a rare sight.

Well, she was the only one around for now.

"So do you like it here?" Hana asked, her dark eyes boring into Noelle.

Like she was going to say no with the way her classmate was staring at her like that.

"Uh-huh."

Noelle really did like Namimori; what wasn't there to like about it? It was a town, but it wasn't such a small one that everyone knew everyone. Though she did get a lot of stares wherever she went at the beginning, the shop owners and other people she often met on the streets had already gotten used to her presence and didn't see it fit to gawk at her any more.

Seeing Hana still staring at her, Noelle's expression deadpanned. "I'm telling the truth, so can you please stop staring at me like we're in an interrogation?"

Her classmate smirked. "Alright, alright, I'll take your word for it."

The three girls then proceeded to eat their lunch and make small talk before the break ended.

0000

Even hours after the incident, Noelle's face was still burning when she left the faculty office. She _knew _she should have sat out of P.E. today, but her teacher had insisted on her playing.

Much to the girl's horror, they were supposed to play BASEBALL. Noelle hadn't played anything remotely close to the sport ever since she was eight and she had broken the window of their kitchen with a girl's softball while her dad tried to teach her the sport.

Suffice to say, her dad wasn't allowed to teach Noelle anything in their backyard lest something be broken again.

So when the teacher announced what they were going to be playing for P.E., the blonde had tried to get out of the situation fast.

It didn't work and Noelle ended up hitting the baseball so hard that it went flying out of the school grounds...

...and into someone else's kitchen effectively destroying the window and an expensive looking vase.

After an hour of apologizing, another hour of making phone calls to her 'family' (the Serafin) and twenty minutes of explaining the circumstances of her strength to the P.E. teacher and the principal, Noelle was finally allowed to leave.

"Bet the whole school knows about it by now," The blonde scoffed to herself with faint bitterness.

If there was one bad thing she had to say about Namimori, it would be about how some of the students treated her. It was just a group of second year girls who for some reason didn't like her. She wasn't going to go up to them and ask, but she wondered if she did anything to piss them off other than show them respect they didn't deserve due to their status as being her senpai.

The other students were polite, but she knew that there was some sort of distance between her and them. The only people she could consider her friends were Kyoko and Hana.

Noelle wanted to hang out with Tsuna as well, but the Serafin told her that it would be best she didn't interact with him too much until Reborn decided to wreck havoc on his life. So she kept an eye on him while they were at school to make sure that he was doing well...

...as well as someone who was mocked and ridiculed by his classmates nearly everyday, anyways. No wonder he had such low self-esteem.

She couldn't tell if people treated her differently because she was a foreigner or if because she told Hibari off on the first day of school. She definitely couldn't wait to see their reactions towards her tomorrow.

_Not._

A loud noise interrupted Noelle's train of thought and she realized that not only had school been long over but that she was hungry as well. Her stomach acid was clawing at the insides of her stomach, making her grimace slightly.

"Good thing I have money." She said, even though there was no one on the empty street.

After five minutes of wandering around, she was finally able to find a place that was serving food. To her surprise, that place looked awfully lot like the sushi place that Yamamoto's dad owned.

While she was sure that Yamamoto would probably be in his room or at baseball practice or something, that didn't stop Noelle from scoping the place out. Besides, she was also hungry and it had been a long time since she had eaten sushi.

"Welcome!" The man behind the sushi bar greeted her when she came in. Like most of the people in Namimori so far, he stared at her before shaking his head as if to clear his mind. He gestured for her to take a seat in front of the bar where she could watch him prepare his meals while eating at the same time.

"I haven't seen you around before." The man grinned. "Are you new around here?"

Noelle's lips tilted upwards into a small smile. "It was that obvious, huh?"

He laughed, but not in a mean way. It was like talking to an older Yamamoto, though she was sure that he wasn't as oblivious to what was going on around him as the future Rain Guardian was. He did after all teach his son the art of the sword without asking him why Yamamoto wanted to learn how to handle one out of the blue.

"Well I bet you've never had real authentic Japanese sushi before, have you?"

"Oh, I've eaten sushi before." There were plenty of Japanese restaurants in America, after all.

"But have you tried sushi actually crafted by an authentic itamae in Japan?"

"Is 'itamae' a term for a sushi chef?" Noelle asked, not recognizing the term.

"Yup!" Yamamoto's father set aside what the girl recognized as a tamago nigiri.

Noelle grinned; she was beginning to like Yamamoto's old man more and more. "Well if you put it that way, then no!"

The man grinned. "Then you're in for a real treat! What will you have?"

She checked to make sure she had enough money again (four thousand yen) before making her order. She watched Yamamoto's dad skillfully cut and mold the sushi into life before he placed it on a wooden platter and handed it to her. Noelle broke her chopsticks into two, said a quick 'itadakimasu' and then proceeded to dig into her food with vigor.

Noelle was so hungry that she didn't realize that someone was talking to her until they placed a hand on her shoulder. She jolted slightly and whirled around to see the face of her grinning classmate, Takeshi Yamamoto.

"Serra-san, what are you doing here?"

He was sweaty and holding a baseball bat that was leaning against his shoulder. It wasn't that hard to guess where he had been.

"I'm eating dinner." Noelle blinked. She pretended to be surprised at seeing the most popular guy in her grade at the sushi bar since she wasn't supposed to know that this was where Yamamoto lived. "What are _you _doing here, Yamamoto-san?"

"I live here!" Yamamoto was still grinning. Even from where she sat, Noelle could tell that he took really good care of his teeth.

"Oi, Takeshi." His dad scolded him. "Go upstairs and change before greeting our guest!"

Yamamoto's laugh had Noelle smiling. Honestly, it was hard not to be smiling when she was around the happy go lucky baseball player.

"Ha ha ha. Sorry about that. I'll go upstairs and change then." And he was off.

Noelle turned back to her platter and resumed eating again.

"You know my son, Takeshi?" Yamamoto's dad asked her when he was out of ear-shot.

"He's a classmate of mine." Noelle paused and then looked sheepish. "And it's kinda hard not to know him. He's pretty popular with everybody."

"...I see." Yamamoto's dad was wearing a small frown on his face. It was strange; he didn't seem happy about his son being popular due to his all-around-good-guy status. "Does he have any close friends?"

Noelle stared at the man for a few minutes before her face took on an thoughtful expression as she thought about his question. She pictured him surrounded by students who praised his accomplishments and admired him, fans who cheered him on whenever he was playing baseball and while she tried to conjure up an image of Yamamoto actually hanging out with someone he considered his friend, nothing came up.

Finally, she shook her head. "...no. Not that I know of. He's surrounded by plenty of people but at the same time, there's some sort of barrier between him and the other students."

"So, no change." His father sighed. "It was the same thing in elementary school. Other people were attracted by his laid back friendly nature but you couldn't exactly call them friends." His eyes narrowed just for a moment that Noelle nearly missed it. "So how's school going for you?"

"Huh?" Noelle looked incredulous. What was with the sudden change of topic?

Then she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and realized why Yamamoto's dad had quickly switched topics.

"Oh, it's okay." Noelle shrugged. "I mean, the people are nice. Guess the only thing that surprises me is the amount of homework I get!"

She was never going to complain about American education again. The amount of homework the teachers gave them made it look like she had been attending kindergarten class in comparison.

Yamamoto pulled up a seat next to her. "So how's the food?"

"Good! Speaking of food..." She looked up at the sushi chef. "Can I have another platter?"

Both Yamamotos laughed.

"You sure can!" Yamamoto's dad said as he took away her empty platter and started preparing a new one.

"That was an amazing hit!" Yamamoto said.

"Huh?"

"In P.E.! When you hit that ball it went flying away so fast that you scored a home run and got four points for the team!"

Noelle promptly stared at him before folding her arms on the table and burying her head in them. She groaned; apparently no one had told him about the part where she had broken a window and a two-hundred thousand yen vase.

* * *

><p><strong>And sorry this chapter is a bit short, but I wanted to get Noelle meeting Yamamoto out of the way so I could get a start on the actual story line! So yeah, this is pretty much Noelle's background from dying to training as a Guardian Angel to setting out for her task. <strong>

**I'm sure some of the people out there will be picky about Noelle's treatment from her fellow peers, but what do you think? And yeah, the second year girls who don't like her are a bunch of snobs. **

**Anyways, please leave a review and tell me what you think!  
><strong>


	7. Reborn

**And now we're finally entering the story line. Yes! Been waiting for this part for a while, believe it or not. And guess what chapter number the actual story line starts on? Yup, that's right: seven!**

**The magical number of the KHR verse! **

**SEVEN IS MAGIC!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own the character that is Noelle. **

* * *

><p><strong>Reborn<strong>

_"And now we're going to learn a lesson about love!" Alana, her nature loving teacher, announced by clapping her hands together. _

_Noelle's ten year old face was a mixture between incredulous and disbelief. What in the world did **love** have to do with anything? Wasn't she supposed to be learning more about the Serafin lineage or did Alana ju__st get tired of talking about their 'family' history and wanted a new change of pace? And why **love **of all things? _

_"Don't worry," Alana giggled at the expression on the girl's face. Honestly, that sort of expression did not suit a ten year old at all. "We'll return to our regular lessons after I get this important fact out of the way." _

_"**Love** is important?" Of course Noelle knew about the whole two people falling in love and eventually making a family, but how was it going to help her with her task? _

_Besides, that sort of thing was impossible for her now. _

_"Of course! Love makes the world go round!"_

_There was complete silence save for the sound of birds singing their morning songs to each other._

_Alana rolled her eyes at her student. "Alright, alright." She sighed; honestly, Noelle had no sense of humour. "I'll tell you this right now: whatever you do, don't fall in love." _

_Noelle had been expecting a long winded speech on how love was the most wonderful thing in the world and that if everyone knew how to embrace it, there would be world peace every where, there would no famine and there would be no pointless wars and unnecessary bloodshed. She certainly did not expect her laid back and easy going teacher to tell her NOT to fall in love. _

_In fact, wouldn't she have encouraged it?_

_"Our time in this world is limited." Alana continued, a sad smile on her face and her eyes glazing over as she looked past Noelle into the distance making the girl wonder if that was something that happened to her teacher; she fell in love with someone. "That's why it's usually discouraged to fall in love with someone in this world." _

_"So there isn't any rule saying you can't?" _

_"Yes. But you would be much better off if you didn't give your heart to someone as that someone would be better off not giving their own heart to you." She sighed. "In the end, the both of you would only end up being hurt."_

_Noelle nodded slowly; that made sense. She wanted to ask about the pained expression on her teacher's face but thought better of it and kept her mouth shut._

_"Don't worry. I never fell in love when I was still alive so for definite I'm not going to fall in love in this world!" _

_Alana reached out and ruffled her hair. "I hope so, Noelle. For your sake and theirs'." She smiled sadly. "But we're much more complicated than that. You cannot predict what will happen in the future and you especially can't predict your own heart."_

0000

Noelle walked down the silent street, slowly making her way to school. She had grown used to the routine of going to school, going back home and doing the day's homework that had been assigned to her before heading to the bed where she'd repeat the same thing over again the next day. It was pretty tedious, but then again she wasn't exactly trying to get out and have a social life all on her own.

The only thing remotely close to her going out and having fun were the times she went to the sushi bar that Yamamoto's dad owned for dinner or Kyoko and Hana inviting her out to do something with them.

Stretching her arms up into the sky, Noelle could feel something running towards her fast. She glanced over her shoulder before immediately throwing herself to the side fast. She collided into a brick wall and she was sure that her action would leave some bruising that she wouldn't see until later on, but it was a heck of a lot better than getting run over by a blue boxer clad boy running down the street at light speed.

A boxer clad boy with a crazed determined look on his face and a flame on his head.

Noelle could only stare after him in shock, blinking repeatedly as her mind absorbed what she had just seen. Then she broke out into a smile as she ran after him.

It was a definite sign that Reborn had finally arrived.

She ran towards the school as fast as she could, wanting to be there when she witnessed that over confident chauvinist who was the captain of the kendo club getting his ass handed to him.

Oh, and to avoid giving Hibari a reason to 'bite her to death'. Maybe it was just her being paranoid, but the prefect seemed to be keeping his eye out for her if the barely restrained violent aura increasing whenever she was around him was anything to go by.

Please just let that be her paranoia.

Noelle peered over the corner of the school wall just in time to see Mochida punch Tsuna in the face. He then walked into the school grounds, presumably going after Kyoko who had most likely run into the school seconds before Noelle had arrived on the scene.

She was about to go up to Tsuna and question him on his lack of wardrobe (she had to pretend to be oblivious as to _why _he was in nothing but his underwear but that didn't mean she had to freak out about it) when Reborn had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of Tsuna, forcing Noelle to press herself against the wall and out of view even though she was about four feet away from where the two of them were. It would be foolish for her to think that Reborn had no idea she was there but he didn't point out her presence as he began explaining the properties and functions of a dying will bullet to the now mortified boy.

Using the side of her fist, she pressed it against her lips to prevent herself from laughing; she was certain that Tsuna didn't want to have her see him in nothing but his boxers and talking to a baby wearing a fedora. But she grimaced when she heard the sound of Tsuna hitting the cement and practically jumped when the bell rang.

When Hibari came to tell Tsuna that classes had started, her heart practically stopped as she realized that there was no way she was going to be able to sneak around him to get to her classes.

Tsuna apologized to Hibari as he gathered his belongings that Reborn had brought for him via parachute and ran into the school to get dressed and face the leers of his classmates.

"You should probably go inside as well." Said a squeaky voice from below her.

Noelle slowly looked down to find a baby in a black suit and fedora looking up at her with dark obsidian eyes that made her flinch. It was definitely Reborn; there was that mischievous look in his eye that seemed a lot scarier now than it ever did in the manga.

"Right! Don't want to be late!" She said quickly, bolting around the corner and into the school as fast as she could. Noelle had seen that look one too many times for her liking; Seria, Heather, Feliciano, and Sarah. And all those looks ended up with her being in pain or mentally scarred for life.

She glanced at Hibari from the corner of her eye and saw that he seemed... amused by her sudden plight. Noelle frowned a bit, but didn't think more on the subject. As fun as it would be to get back at the raven haired Demon Lord, having him hound you and beat you down with his tonfas was not worth it.

"Sawada, wait for me!" Noelle yelled as she caught up with him, slowing down her pace.

"E-eh, Serra-san!" Tsuna jumped. A red blush crept up onto his face that confused her until she realized that the poor boy was still in his _underwear._ Not that he really had the time to change since it was unlikely he was just going to put on his uniform in the middle of the school grounds.

"You should probably get dressed, hm?" Noelle mused.

The blush on Tsuna's face reddened even more.

"Come on." Noelle said, grabbing the boy by his arm and then shoving him towards the trees and bushes on the school grounds that would allow him some cover from prying eyes. "You better put on your spare clothes before we go inside."

"B-but we're going to be late!" Tsuna stammered.

She shot him an amused look. "Are you telling me you want to go into inside in nothing but your boxers? It's bad enough a bunch of people already saw you; they're probably spreading it around the school as we know it. No need to add credibility to the gossip."

"HIIIEEE!"

Noelle giggled from behind her hand as he screeched. Poor Tsuna; he already thought things were bad? He had no idea that this was only the beginning and Reborn had much worse things in store for him. Her giggles sobered as she thought on ahead to the events of the Kokuyo and Varia Arcs. And then the Future Arc and the events after those.

Of course, Tsuna would struggle with what came at him due to his reluctance to accept the position of mafia don, but his friends would help him through it. Noelle wasn't sure if her presence was necessary at all, but she would do her best because no matter how much Tsuna denied his involvement, he would do his best as well.

"S-serra-san." A timid voice interrupted her and she turned to face the now dressed Tsuna. "I-I'm done."

"Oh good!" Noelle smiled. "Then we better hurry up and get to class."

At the mention of 'class', Tsuna had suddenly looked downcast. No doubt he wasn't looking forward to the relentless taunts his classmates would start heaping on him once they saw him. The blonde smiled at him sympathetically and ruffled his hair; an action that clearly surprised Tsuna as he looked at her with a bewildered expression.

"Don't worry," She said. "I'll be right beside you. You won't be facing them alone."

And without another word, Noelle took his hand and proceeded to drag him effortlessly into the building. She didn't see the pink tinging his cheeks at what had to be the nicest words any one of his classmates (besides Kyoko) had ever said to him.

Despite being trained (more like burned into her brain) to notice what could be hiding in her surroundings, Noelle didn't see the dark eyes that watched the both of them from the sanctuary of the leaves with interest.

0000

As expected by the two of them, the class had let Tsuna have it once they saw him.

"Here comes underwear-man!" Said the boy who first spotted him. "A sudden confession to Sasagawa Kyoko!"

"Please go out with me!" Mocked a second boy.

Noelle growled and rolled her eyes, walking around Tsuna and standing in front of him defensively as if to prevent any more of their taunts from reaching him. With her arms folded in front of her, she glared at the boys as if daring them to say any more. She had put up with them teasing Tsuna for months and decided that it was high time someone stood up for him until he could do it himself.

Actually, she had been standing up for Tsuna on his behalf for a while now. She glared at the classmates who blamed any of their P.E. game losses on him, tapped people on the shoulder who were teasing Tsuna and even got into an argument that lasted thirty minutes with a teacher who found it fit to call Tsuna by the derogatory nickname his peers gave him a long time ago.

People stopped being mean to Tsuna, but that was only when she was around to make sure they didn't call him 'Dame-Tsuna' to his face. Otherwise they pretty much treated him the same.

She couldn't wait till Gokudera and his unlimited supply of dynamite got here.

"He's going to be rejected!" Taunted a boy with hair just as spiky as Tsuna's, but shorter. "That's obvious, right, Sasagawa?" He turned towards Kyoko expectantly.

"The guy is No-good Tsuna after all." Said the black haired boy next to him. Noelle glared at him, but since his head was turned away from her, he couldn't see her blue eyes burning holes into him.

Instead, she did the next best thing.

Quietly walking up to him, she raised her foot...

...and stomped on her classmate's _hard. _

To her satisfaction he started jumping up and down, howling as he held his sore foot in his hands with tears springing to his eyes.

"Oops. Sorry. I didn't see your foot there."

Everyone stared at her and while she smiled at the boy who was in pain. Good. He deserved that; he was one of the ones who mocked Tsuna every chance he got.

"Hey, Tsuna." Noelle glanced over at the boy who had come up to Tsuna. His name was Yuu Fujimaki and he happened to sit in front of her in class. He was one of the few people she actually liked as he hadn't let their culture differences prevent him from being friendly. Another reason she liked him was because he didn't point out Tsuna's faults on everything he did, always laughing and brushing it off before giving Tsuna a pat on the back as thanks for trying his best. "Captain Mochida says he wants to fight you during afternoon break in the gym."

Noelle made a face. "Really?" Even though she knew perfectly well that it was true. "He didn't have the heart to go up to Tsuna himself and challenge him? My hero." She added the last part as sarcastically as she could.

Fujimaki laughed. "I've never heard you so sarcastic before, Serra-chan. You're pretty funny when you are."

She have him a wry smile. "Thanks."

"Mochida-senpai said he wanted to get revenge on the insult you received, Kyoko." Hana teased her friend. "He said he won't forgive anyone who makes Kyoko cry."

She then proceeded to make kissing noises that Noelle gagged at.

"Good for you Kyoko!" Another classmate with a blue ribbon tying up her hair said. She was an associate of Hana's, but one Noelle didn't talk to as she was also one of the ones who teased Tsuna in a not so nice way.

Again, Noelle gagged before continuing to listen to the conversation.

"N-no, we're just in the same committee." She protested, a paint pink blush on her face at the fact that people were implying she and Mochida-Senpai were a couple.

"Well, whatever. Afternoon break should be fun." The girl who Noelle remembered her name as being Rin Nishimura said, waving aside the protest.

Oh, that was _it!_

A loud, cracking noise had everyone turning to face the American. She was hunched over a desk that was now splintered right down the middle from the raw force that she had applied to it when her hands had slammed on top of the surface. She was looking down, her eyes hidden by her golden bangs, but they could all tell that Noelle was _pissed. _

Silence filled the room as everyone waited to see what would happen next.

"Fun?" Noelle hissed, slowly raising her head as up at Nishimura. Her tone was soft and dangerous, just like all her teachers' when _they _were angry. She briefly mused that she had picked up a lot of things from her teachers; how to make people quake in their shoes being one of them. Nishimura was going to be the first person for Noelle to test that on.

"You think watching someone being picked on, humiliated in front of the whole school and then mocked afterwards is _fun?_" She spat, disgust and venom lacing her voice.

How many times had she seen that done to Madison? How many times had she seen her friend close to tears at the merciless jeers of the students of Hollywood High?

She had do idea how she looked at the moment, but Noelle hoped it was downright terrifying. In the series, the teasing had seemed merely mean spirited; but in reality it was so much worse.

And it made her _furious. _

Nishimura squeaked in fear as Noelle slowly vented her restrained anger, hiding behind Hana as if the other girl would be enough to prevent the angry foreigner's wrath coming down on her.

"Oi, Serra, calm down." Hana's voice snapped Noelle out of her angry musing. She glanced at Hana who was glaring back at her. "It's just friendly teasing!"

Behind her, Nishimura was nodding her head.

"I know what friendly teasing is Hana." Noelle said sardonically. "That wasn't it."

Her head snapped back to meet Nishimura's who squeaked again, burying her face into Hana's back to avoid the livid glare.

"But I'll let her off with a warning if she apologizes to Sawada-san... along with the _others._" Noelle's eyes narrowed as she turned and stared at her peers who had laughed at the future Vongola boss.

Then as if she hadn't been angry in the first place, her face brightened and she turned to Fujimaki and Yamamoto. "I'll leave you two to make sure that they apologize to Sawada-kun, alright?" She glanced into the hall with a grim smile. "I've got some other business to attend to."

The former nodded while the latter grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

Noelle ran out of the classroom, patting Tsuna on the shoulder while she went to care of a few things.

0000

In the long run it hadn't been a good idea to burst into Mochida's classroom and loudly declare that Tsuna was going to kick his ass at break, but no one could deny that the look on her senior's face was completely hysterical.

Apparently, no one had ever spoken to him like that with his good looks and being the captain of the Kendo Club.

But Noelle didn't have time to gloat as she had to run away after that when she spotted a menacing Hibari slowly stalking towards her with his tonfas out.

After returning to class, she was promptly dragged into the faculty office for discussion about the class interruptions as well as the desk surface she had splintered right in half. When they finally released Noelle, it was class break and the fight had already started. Shoving her way through the multitude of students who had gathered to watch Tsuna having his ass handed to him, she finally made it to where Kyoko and Hana were.

As they watched, Tsuna was running around avoiding Mochida's attacks as the senpai tried to strike him. Noelle bit her lip, wondering where Reborn and his magical gun were.

Noelle frowned; in normal circumstances, there would have been no way that Tsuna would win the match. That moron they were supposed to address politely had the match to his advantage, with the referee ordered not to give Tsuna a point. But with Reborn on the scene with Leon, the tides would turn on Mochida and he'd be bald to boot.

Even though it was mean to laugh at someone's misfortune, Noelle couldn't help giggling at the thought. Besides, by the time the Kokuyo Arc came around, Mochida would have his full head of hair back.

"What are you laughing at?" Hana was looking at her with an annoyed expression on her face. "If that guy wins, he takes Kyoko as a prize!"

Noelle grinned. "Don't worry. He won't."

"Really?" Hana's face spoke volumes of her incredulous disbelief at that.

"Yup! Even though the guy's got the match rigged so that the referee won't call out Sawada-san's points, he'll get what's coming to him."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know!" Noelle smirked. "Want to bet on it?"

"Oh?" Now Hana looked amused as she placed her hands on her hips and watched Noelle through half lidded eyes. "How much?"

"Two thousand yen! Or is that too much?"

"I'll take you up on it."

"Hana! Noelle-chan!" Kyoko looked flustered at the fact that the two of them were using her as the subject of their bet.

Noelle shook her head, reminding herself that she had gotten mad at a classmate for teasing Tsuna and she was bordering on being mean herself. So instead, she changed the subject.

"Hey, Kyoko-chan." She and the girl had taken to calling each other by their first names around two weeks ago. "Why don't you cheer Tsuna on?"

"Eh?" Kyoko blinked, looking confused.

"Cheer Tsuna on. After all, he's also fighting for you."

"B-but would it be okay?"

Noelle gave her an amused look. "Trust me. It'll make all the difference to him."

With a determined expression on her face, the School Idol turned back to the match and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Sawada-kun, do your best!" She yelled, shouting out her encouragement.

Mochida had been standing over Tsuna with his shinai (the wooden sword used in Kendo) raised over his head read to smash Tsuna with it when Kyoko said those words. The two of them turned towards her; disbelief on Mochida's face and surprise on Tsuna's.

There was a bang and Noelle glanced up in the direction of where the sound had come from. Standing on the indoor balcony was the same baby she had encountered earlier. He was holding a rifle with a scope and he seemed satisfied with his work as Tsuna toppled over backwards.

As if sensing that someone was watching him, Reborn's pitch black eyes locked onto hers and Noelle looked away. Even though she was fully aware of just how manipulative and sadistic the hitman baby was, he still managed to intimidate her. Possibly even more so than her teachers, and they were pretty scary themselves.

Or maybe it was just the black eyes that gave her the impression that they could see into her soul.

Either way, it was still creepy.

Anyways, Noelle turned back just in time to see Sawada strip out of his clothes. Or to put it more accurately, rip out of them.

The blonde's mouth dropped open and she gaped. She had been expecting this, but it was still... surprising to see this sort of thing happening.

"Reborn! I'll get a point no matter what it takes!" The dying will charged Tsuna declared as he ran head on towards his senpai.

At that, Noelle burst out laughing. She was fully aware of the stares the people around her were giving, but how could they not laugh at _that_? Okay, maybe it had to do with the fact that he had just suddenly became an exhibitionist, but really...

"Go Tsuna! Show him what you've got!" She yelled, punching her arm into the air.

There were shouts behind her of 'pervert' and 'underwear-man' but Noelle ignored them as she already knew the out come of the match.

Mochida raised his shinai to strike at Tsuna, but as it came down on to the boy's face, the wooden sword broke against the force of the dying will driven brunet.

The older student suddenly went down as Tsuna straddled him and proceeded...

...to rip his hair out.

Noelle winced, watching the scene through one eye. She didn't like Mochida, but she had been in enough fights to know that hair tearing was extremely painful.

Finally, the referee got into his head that _perhaps _he should raise Tsuna's flag and give him the win but not before the boy had stripped Mochida of all his hair and left him bald.

There was silence and then cheers came from the other students and they voiced their amazement at Tsuna's win.

"So Hana," Noelle smiled at the dark haired girl. "I win. Own up."

Hana sighed. "You got me. But can I pay you tomorrow? I don't have the money today."

"Hey, as long as you pay up eventually."

Noelle looked over to where Tsuna and Kyoko were talking and seeing the slightly depressed look on the former's face, she guessed that Kyoko had told him that she thought he was just joking. Then Kyoko said something and Tsuna's face lit up.

The girl smiled; Tsuna's life was going to get better... or worse, depending on how he looked at it. But for the most part, definitely better as he gains friends and becomes stronger.

"Hey, do you have a crush on Sawada or something?" Hana's voice interrupted her musing.

This was the second time Hana so rudely brought Noelle back to reality when she was trying to get lost in her thoughts.

"No." Noelle answered in a flat tone.

"So why'd you help him in class earlier? Nishimura's still traumatized at you snapping at her like that."

"What's wrong with standing up for someone?" Noelle shot back.

Hana held up her hands in front of her defensively, a smirk on her face.

Noelle rolled her eyes and then turned on her heel to where Tsuna was. "Hey Sawada-san! Want to get an ice cream? My treat for winning the challenge today!"

"E-eh?" Tsuna blinked.

"Can I come too?" Kyoko asked, hearing Noelle's invitation.

"Sure!" Noelle turned to Hana. "Want ice cream to celebrate the defeat of the chauvinistic pig?"

"Definitely." Hana smirked.

As the four of them (she, Tsuna, Kyoko and Hana) discussed where the best place to get ice cream would be, out of the corner of her eye Noelle saw a flash of white and red that turned away from the gym doors.

Noelle smiled to herself.

There was going to be a Storm at Namimori Middle tomorrow.

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><p><strong>Oh gawd, this has to be the longest chapter I've ever written on as well as in this story. So you guys better appreciate this because I worked my butt off on it. <strong>

**And it only took two days!**

**Anyways, review! Because I am likely never going to write a chapter that's this long ever again! At least... for now. **


	8. Gokudera Hayato

**And I'm writing this just a day after I submitted that super long chapter. I _should _be taking a break like Conanfan15 has suggested, but for some strange reason I can't stop typing. Seriously. I really can't, which is probably why I'm updating every few days. Auggh... frustrating... **

**Right, just so you know, I wrote this about two days after Chapter Seven but I decided that I'll do a weekly update. Yeah, you got it. Weekly update. May also come into two weeks if I'm feeling particularly uninspired for the next few days.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however own the concepts of the Serafin and Noelle.**

* * *

><p><strong>Gokudera Hayato<strong>

"Here." Hana said, coming up to the Serafin just after she set her things down and giving her two one-thousand yen bills. "Your money."

Noelle stared at the bills blankly for a moment before she remembered the bet the day before on who would win the match. She took the bills, feeling a bit guilty that she had basically cheated on the bet since she knew before hand that Tsuna would win by going into Dying Will Mode and then sending Mochida into unconscious shock by making him bald. Or was it the pain that knocked him unconscious? It didn't matter either way; he still won.

Yeah, knowing the future took the fun out of things like that.

"Heh, heh. Thanks." Noelle's cheeks tinged with pink and she averted her gaze to the side.

Trying to distract herself from the fact that she had cheated on the bet, she heard some of her classmates gossiping. She perked at the mention of a 'transfer student' and did her best not to break out into a huge smile, instead settling for a small grin.

Hayato Gokudera arrived just on time.

As she listened to various conversations circulating around the room on whether the new student was going to be a girl or boy with both genders hoping that they'd be cute, Noelle wondered just why on earth kids in Japanese schools made such a big deal about transfers in the first place. Maybe it had to do with the fact that in Japan, it was the _teachers _who had to walk to the next class instead of the students and because of that they pretty much saw the same old faces everyday since there was no going to new classes and meeting up with different people for them.

Which would make sense if someone new was introduced. Despite animes portraying them as such, transfer students weren't all that common in Japan.

The teacher came in and after homeroom introductions were made as it had been for the past few months, their sensei gestured for someone to come into the room.

And when that someone stalked into the room with their hands shoved into their pockets, Noelle smirked.

There he was: Gokudera in all his silver haired glory.

The white shirt of his school uniform was unbuttoned revealing a red shirt and the dog tag necklaces that he wore on a silver chain that gave him that bad boy look. He was attractive, but Noelle was immune to his charms; unlike most of the girls in her class who were watching him with glazed eyes.

While the girls swooned, the boys were muttering whispers of discontent at the fact that Gokudera had pretty much garnered the attention of practically all the females in the room save for Noelle, Hana who just stared at him with unimpressed eyes and Kyoko who thought of the transfer student as interesting but was otherwise not thinking of him as anything else.

"I'll introduce the transfer student." The teacher said once the students had settled down. "He was studying abroad in Italy until now, his name is..." There was a pause. "Gokudera Hayato-kun."

The class broke out into whispers again, the girls' being noticeably the loudest.

"Wow, he's so hot!"

"On top of that, he's moved from another country!"

Noelle twitched, internally gagging. And people seriously wondered why girls were portrayed as love struck fools in media?

The blonde watched as he strode to the back of the room with the bad boy posture and aura he had been exuding all morning, purposely slowing down until he had reached Tsuna's desk. Since the brunet had been gazing at Kyoko, wondering if she too had fallen for Gokudera's charms, Tsuna didn't realize the boy making his way towards him until he was right in front of his view, blocking his crush.

Startled, he looked up into the less than happy expression of his new classmate and Vongola right hand-to-be.

"W-what?" Tsuna's head swiveled around as he wondered if it was _him _Gokudera was directing his attention to. When he realized that it was indeed Tsuna the silver haired boy was staring at, he pointed at himself screaming a startled _'Me?' _in his head.

The next thing everyone knew, there was a loud crash as Gokudera kicked Tsuna's desk and chair over, startling the poor boy and the guys around him.

"Gokudera-kun!" The teacher shouted. "Your seat is... Gokudera-kun!" He shouted the transfer student's name out again to try and get his attention as Gokudera glared at Tsuna.

Even though Noelle knew it was coming, she couldn't help but be annoyed by the fact that he had just knocked down the current Vongola tenth candidate. Honestly, despite re-reading and watching that several times, Noelle _still _didn't get why he did that. Was it just to pretend to be a pissed off candidate who wasn't pleased by the fact that wimpy, Dame-Tsuna couldn't do a thing right?

Chin resting in her upturned palm, her eyes cast around the class to see how they reacted.

Tsuna was pulling himself off the floor while the boy who sat next to him asked him if he knew Gokudera and the boys and girls stared after the new addition to their class; the boys with apprehension and the girls with admiration, completely ignoring the fact he had just knocked down a classmate of theirs.

The most surprising response was from Yamamoto himself; much to Noelle's surprise. His arm was upturned and supporting his head, a melancholy and thoughtful expression on his face. She had to do a double-take; was that _jealousy _she saw in those normally friendly brown eyes of his?

_Jealousy _and _Yamamoto_?

That was a funny combination.

Yamamoto's eyes met hers and he broke out into a grin that seemed forced before turning away from Noelle to stare at the chalk board as the teacher started the lesson.

She stared at the back of Yamamoto's head before she shook her own.

Was it just her imagination...?

Well, she'd think on it later.

With a thoughtful expression on her own face, Noelle's eyes narrowed and a mischievous smile crept onto her lips as a brilliant idea popped into her mind.

0000

She thought it was a brilliant idea at the time. Who knew that Gokudera was going to react so violently, snarling and chucking back the eraser she had thrown at his head right at her? Noelle just narrowly missed being hit by the velocity charged writing utensil!

Naturally, their sensei hadn't been happy about the sudden class interruption and gave them a warning. It wouldn't have been so bad...

...if they hadn't started a classroom war over the whole thing that lasted several periods until the teachers saw it fit to have a chat about their new found animosity towards each other.

And even though they were thoroughly chastised about their immature behaviour, the message was pretty much that if they wanted to hate each others' guts, they should do it out of school grounds and out of their so that the teachers and school wouldn't be held responsible for the outcome of their fights.

Such kind and caring people, weren't they?

"This is your fault." Noelle said as the two of them made their way to back to the classroom.

"My fault?" Gokudera snarled, practically spitting. "You're the one who flung that eraser at me, you stupid blondie!"

He did not just use a combination of the two words that Noelle hated the most.

She whirled around, the golden strands of her hair clashing into her cheeks as her face flushed red. "Excuse me, but _what _did you just call me?"

_"Stupid Blondie." _Gokudera smirked, smug that he had said something that had gotten on her nerves.

Noelle clenched her teeth, reminding herself that she was on thin ice with the faculty and could easily be expelled for any display of violence within the school. Or beaten to near death by the Demon Lord prefect himself.

Back to the topic of Gokudera, she decided against antagonizing him even further. He _was _going to be Tsuna's future right-hand and Storm Guardian and she had already unintentionally gotten on his bad side. As much as his comment annoyed her, she couldn't allow it to make her and the transfer student enemies, if it wasn't already too late.

They had to work together when things started going downhill after all and hating each others' guts would make that hard to do.

Besides, she just made relations between her and the girls in her class and probably his future fanclub as well worse. Not that it was already rocky to begin with.

"Don't you have a volley ball game to get to?" Noelle asked.

"Pfft."

Unsurprisingly, the silver haired boy had been voted as one of the volleyball players for class 1-A due to his sudden popularity.

"Whatever, _Blondie_." And then Gokudera stomped off to go and join the rest of the players down at the gym.

Noelle gazed after him and shook her head before turning away from him. She'd take her sweet time getting to the game as it wasn't necessarily mandatory for her to be there after school.

Or did she even want to be there?

Meh, she could ask Hana what happened. Noelle's excuse for her absence of not cheering on the class team would be that she wanted to avoid all the nasty glares she was likely going to get from the new found Gokudera fanclub.

So lost in her thoughts, she looked up and was in for the shock of her life when she saw who it was staring at her from the top of the stair case.

Watching her with eyes the colour of coal was Reborn.

Noelle's own blue eyes widened.

Uh oh.

0000

Noelle had no idea how in the world the spawn baby hitman did it, but he did.

Considering that he didn't even come up to her knee, he was pretty damn strong. Before Noelle even knew what had happened, Reborn had managed to immobilize her and then drag her to what she recognized as the school gym's indoor balcony. She was fully aware of just how strong he was by the way he kicked Tsuna around and had other mafioso standing on their toes whenever he was in the area, but this was just plain humiliating, strongest hitman in the world or not.

The blonde was still on the floor, wincing and nursing the sore area that Reborn had kicked that had caused her to suddenly tumble onto the ground and made it easy for the baby to drag her into the gym as best as she could. Easier said than done considering she was tied up.

"Any reason why you dragged me here, baby?" Noelle asked, trying to push herself off the floor but failing on the account of being bound by rope.

All she could manage was turn and face the back of his black suit as Reborn concentrated on the game below, prepared to shoot Tsuna in the legs when the time came.

"It would be in your best interest to reveal who you truly are." Was the reply.

Those very words made the girl's heart stop for a second and then start pounding so hard that it was thudding against her rib cage. She was found out already?

"Truly are?" Noelle said, feigning ignorance. Though it was risky considering who she was talking to in the first place. "Let's see... my name is Noelle Serra. Or Serra Noelle, which ever pronunciation you prefer."

"That is an alias. I've checked for your background but it appears that the profile for that person is fake, although a very good one that could fool those he didn't know what they were looking for."

Well, this _was_ Reborn.

"Now I will ask again; who are you?" There was a pause. "And if you don't tell me..."

Another pause.

"...I am a hitman after all."

Noelle sighed. There was no way she was going to get out of this one and her duty of protecting Tsuna was on the line. It should have been her life, but she wouldn't be able to die.

At least, not yet.

But having that particular fact revealed to Reborn wouldn't be pleasant. Though it might make things easier for her as well; the baby would have certainly spotted her hanging around Tsuna to play her role as his Guardian Angel and would be suspicious of her hanging around, something he wouldn't think of as a coincidence.

"Fine. I didn't expect any less from the strongest hitman of the Vongola famiglia and possibly the world... Reborn." She smirked.

There were too loud bangs that startled Noelle and the girl panicked, wondering if he had decided to shoot her anyways. Then she heard a thud and stunned silence from the volleyball players and spectators below.

Oh. Wait.

That was Tsuna he was shooting at.

"If you know those names, that must mean you have some involvement in the mafia world." There was a light tap as Reborn landed right in front of her bound form. "Speak."

Noelle looked annoyed by the baby's demands, but she spoke anyways.

"My first name _is _Noelle." She sighed. "But my last name is an alias. My real last name is Serafin." Actually, it was _Kennedy _but that was when she had still been fully alive.

Reborn stared at her, neutral baby face not displaying any sort of emotion as he studied her.

"Can you prove it?" He finally asked.

Noelle scrunched up her face as she tried to think of something fast. Then she remembered the winged insignia necklace that she was wearing around her neck, tucked into the safety of her shirt. It was used as the famiglia identification, but it was supposed to be kept hidden unless it was absolutely vital for her to show it.

Being at the mercy of a sadistic baby who could kill you with one head-shot probably counted as 'vital'.

"My necklace. I have a necklace of the Serafin insignia." There was also the insignia tattoo on her back, but she'd have to strip down for that.

With his baby hands, Reborn reached into her shirt (not in a perverse way, thank god) and brought out the very necklace she was talking about.

The jewelery was forged with real gold as the Serafin seemed to have a thing for using the genuine expensive stuff. The insignia consisted of what looked like a diamond sliver with a small head attached to the tip to represent a person with gold wings attached.

Reborn examined the figure in his hand, turning it carefully to presumably see if was the real thing or a fake.

"This is the true Serafin insignia." He finally stated after a few minutes.

"Um, yes." Noelle struggled with the bonds. "Now can you release me please?"

Reborn walked around her and with one swift motion that she couldn't see, had cut both the ropes. She sat up and rolled her wrists and stretched her legs as she got the circulation flowing through her half-asleep limbs again.

"How'd you know I was really who I said I was?" Noelle couldn't help asking when she finally looked at the baby who had his eyes hidden by his fedora. "For all you know, I could've stolen that from one of their members."

The baby smirked. "Anyone who stole something like that would've been dead within the same day they took it. Seeing as you're still alive, it's the real deal."

"...thanks." This baby had a scary sense of reasoning.

"But that doesn't explain why you're here. It can't be a coincidence."

Noelle smiled softly. Reborn was as sharp as he was in the anime and manga series.

"I was given the assignment of watching over Tsunayoshi Sawada, the tenth Vongola candidate."

"How long have you been here?"

Why was he asking her all these questions? Well, as long as it had nothing to do with revealing the secrets of the Serafin, she'd be alright. Besides, she had a feeling that lying to Reborn was hazardous to her health.

And sanity.

"Since the school year started."

A small frown formed on his face as he looked at her with contemplation. Or was it thoughtfulness? Noelle couldn't tell.

"The Ninth has considered Tsunayoshi Sawada as a candidate, but it was never confirmed until last month." His obsidian eyes bore into her. "So how did you know?"

"Know?" Noelle tilted her head to the side. "Know what?"

"That he would be candidate who would inherit the title of the Tenth."

Ah... so _that _was what he was talking about.

"I didn't." Noelle blinked with what she _hoped _was the most innocent expression on her face. "All I was told was to guard the tenth Vongola candidate."

Most of Reborn's face was hidden by his hat, but Noelle didn't miss the tiny smirk his lips formed.

"...I see."

0000

Naturally, with Tsuna and his now _signature _volley ball move, class 1-A won the game. Reborn said he had business to attend to and by that, he must have meant he was now going to meet the mafioso he had called to Japan even though the two of them had never even met before.

And watch as Gokudera threw dynamite at Tsuna.

Noelle took her time exiting the gym once she was sure that the pain had died down. As soon as she was out the doors, she heard a loud explosion that screamed to her that the battle between Tsuna and Gokudera had started.

"It's a wonder no one besides Tsuna has called him out on _that _through out the series." She muttered, making her way towards where her two classmates were.

When she turned the corner, she saw Tsuna running away from the new student screaming as he did so. Reborn noticed Noelle, flashed her a smirk and then turned back to the scene of his pupil dodging dynamite while panicking.

Tsuna was backed against the school watching in rising horror as Gokudera prepared to throw more dynamite at him.

As the scene unfolded, a nagging feeling in the back of Noelle's mind tugged at her. Something was missing... what was it?

"This is the end of the Tenth." Gokudera growled underneath his breath. "Disappear!" He shouted, flinging the explosives he was holding in his hand at Tsuna.

In desperation, Tsuna flung himself onto the grounf to meet the dynamite and tried to extinguish the lit flames with his bare hands only to yelp and jump back when the pain told him that hadn't been a good idea.

Noelle shook her head and sighed. Cupping a hand to the side of her mouth, she shouted at Tsuna, "Of course that won't work!"

"HIIIEE! Serra-san?" Tsuna looked horrified at the fact that she was standing there watching them. She couldn't get caught up in this crazy event he was being forcefully dragged into by his so-called tutor.

"YOU?" Gokudera snarled, more dynamite somehow appearing in his hands.

There was a loud bang that Noelle had soon enough associated with Reborn shooting Tsuna. Of course, he'd shoot other people and/or things too, but for the most part it was usually Tsuna who was facing the end of his gun barrel.

The boy in question was sent flying backwards, his body hitting the pavement with his eyes wide open staring at her in shock. If Noelle hadn't known any better, she'd say that the hitman had just killed him. Well actually he did, but Tsuna was going to rip out of his clothes in a few seconds feeling better than ever.

But that still didn't prevent her from flinching and stumbling backwards, her stomach doing back flips as she tried to do her best not to be sick. Was that what she looked like after Angie had shot her? Was that what Madison and the others had to see?

And then before Noelle could think even ahead even further than that and actually throw up, Tsuna started to glow and his stunned expression contorted into one of determination, a flame lighting up the top of his head with his eyes emitting a faint orange glow and giving him the look of a deranged man.

"REBORN!" He shouted, bursting out of his clothes.

He didn't waste any time extinguishing the flames of dynamite right before they blew up in their faces. Even when Gokudera had decided to triple the amount of bombs he threw and accidentally dropped one by his feet, causing him to drop the rest, Tsuna helped him out which was a very easy feat when his external limiters were removed.

"I did not realize it!" Gokudera, the very same one who had kicked down Tsuna's desk earlier, was now on the ground bowing his head to him.

"Eh?" Tsuna looked confused.

"You are the one fit to become the boss." Gokudera looked up. "Tenth, I'll follow you until the end of this Earth! Ask whatever you want of me!"

"The one who loses becomes the winner's subordinate, that is this family's rule." Reborn said, walking in between the two of them before Tsuna could start freaking out about his not wanting to join the mafia.

"Rule?" Tsuna was beginning to look more and more confused.

Gokudera then explained that he had never desired becoming the Tenth Vongola boss in the first place, stating that he just wanted to see if Tsuna was capable of being the next head of the family.

And apparently, Tsuna had exceeded his expectations and beyond.

"Wait! That's troubling!" Tsuna exclaimed, placing his hands in front of him as he tried to deter the transfer student. "Can't we just be regular classmates?"

"Absolutely not." Gokudera said, his voice taking on that bad boy tone again his eyes flashing as he glared at Tsuna, scaring him in the process. His eyes then glanced over to where Noelle was standing. "And why the hell are _you _here, blondie?"

Noelle scowled. "I told you not to call me that! And if you must know..." She reached into her shirt and pulled out her Serafin necklace, showing it to Gokudera. "I think this is pretty much explanatory. Or Reborn could explain it to you; either way is fine."

Gokudera's eyes narrowed as he examined the object, before widening with realization. "Th-that's-!"

"What?" Poor Tsuna was looking back and forth between Reborn and Gokudera. "What is it?" The kicked, whimpering puppy expression on his face told Noelle that he couldn't take any more surprises.

"Tenth! That's the Serafin insignia!" Gokudera said, still unable to peel his eyes away from Noelle as he gaped at her. "She's a Serafin, part of the Serafin famiglia!"

"More mafia!" Tsuna 'HIIIEEE'd.

Noelle winced, trying to sound as gentle and soothing as she could since Tsuna seemed to be on the edge of a mental breakdown and that was the last thing she needed. "Not quite. We're involved with the mafia world but we're also not a part of that world. I guess you can say... we're observers."

Gokudera nodded. "It's true. The Serafin maintain power within the mafia by acting as watchers. And there are rumours that they know everything that is going on."

"As he said," Noelle said dryly. "Those are rumours. We just have really good spies who don't miss a beat."

"EHHH?" Tsuna was gripping the sides of his head as if he was in pain, and Noelle couldn't blame him. He was having heap after heap of revelation piled on top of him.

"So what's a Serafin even doing here?" Gokudera snapped at her.

"I came as Sawada-san's protector." Noelle rolled her eyes. "To make sure someone doesn't come along to attempt to, you know. Because of who he is." Noelle didn't want to say 'kill' or 'assassinate' because that would have pretty much broken Tsuna at this point.

"You came to..." Gokudera trailed off and stared at Tsuna. He did this for a few minutes before breaking out into a grin. "It must be a sign that you're worthy of the title of Vongola! Even the Serafin have recognized you!"

"HIIIEEE!" Tsuna screeched loudly. "I don't even know what the Serafin are! And Serra-san... you're one of them?" He sounded so hurt that Noelle was started to feel like the big bad of a series.

"Good Job, Tsuna." The mentioned boy snapped out of his panicking and turned to his tutor. "It's because of your strength that Gokudera became your subordinate. And the fact that one of the Serafin was watching you all along is proof that you aren't a completely lost cause after all."

So Reborn thought he was a hopeless case? Ouch.

Out of nowhere, Reborn pulled out a black notebook that he starts writing in. "You've passed for today. And you didn't even need the dying will bullet."

"Good job, Tsuna." Noelle smiled, bending down and ruffling Tsuna's soft brown hair. "That's quite a compliment from Reborn, from what I've heard about him."

"Don't get too close to the Tenth!" She and Tsuna looked up to see an angry Gokudera staring down at them. "Even if you are a Serafin!"

Just before Noelle could loudly retort that she was just being friendly, a loud obnoxious voice cut in. They all directed their gazes to the side to see three delinquent third years who were no doubt supposed to be in high school by now staring at them with sneers plastered on their faces.

"Huh, what's up with him." One of them said, looking at Tsuna.

"That underwear guy is such a loser!" Smirked another.

All three of them burst out into laughter and Tsuna's face flushed a deep red as he realized that once again, he was on school grounds in nothing but his blue boxers.

Noelle's expression deadpanned.

"Gokudera...?" She said in a light tone that suggested he go over and beat them up.

"Looks like it's time to make myself useful." The silver haired bomber brought out more sticks of dynamite, his eyes being shadowed by his silver bangs as he slowly advanced towards the delinquents.

"W-what?" Tsuna squeaked, afraid of what Gokudera was going to do. It didn't help that Gokudera himself confirmed what his intentions to towards the punks were.

"I'll totally annihilate them."

"Wait! You don't need to!"

But Tsuna's pleas fell on deaf ears as Gokudera chucked his dynamite at the third years.

Noelle smiled at the combination of screams and explosions until she realized exactly what that nagging feeling she had felt earlier had been. Wasn't Yamamoto supposed to have come onto the scene and ask to join in the fun while holding a stick of a dynamite that had been thrown at Tsuna? An idiotic thing to do, but it had happened.

She looked around to search for the baseball player, but he was nowhere in sight.

* * *

><p><strong>And if that isn't an ominous ending, I dunno what is. So who can guess what's going to happen in the next chapter? Any guesses? Anyone? <strong>

**I don't believe it, but this is longer than the previous chapter. Whoo! Though I bet the next one will be a little shorter, though I hope you don't mind since the last chapter and this one are pretty lengthy.  
><strong>

**Anyways, don't forget to review! I love hearing your opinions!**


	9. Yamamoto Takeshi

**And Chapter Nine! Remember that ending in the last chapter? Well, now we're going to be dealing with it in this one. I'm pretty sure that I'm screwing w****ith the plot a little, but I'm moving for realism here even though there are somethings that aren't so... realistic. Then again, this is the KHR world we're talking about!**

**Note: Originally, I was going to submit this tomorrow, but then I saw that My Heavenly Judgement came out today, I decided to load the next chapter a day earlier. Consider it a treat for a fast update, colbub.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle and the Serafin. Not to mention the plot points that make our little Noe go through pure hell.**

* * *

><p><strong>Yamamoto Takeshi<br>**

The fact that Yamamoto hadn't been at the back of the school like he was supposed to when Reborn recruited him to be one of Tsuna's Guardians had Noelle practically up all night and it showed when she had slept most of the school day away right until PE.

"Noelle-chan, are you alright?" Kyoko asked when came up to her desk right before PE.

"H-huh?" The blonde stumbled over her words, rubbing blearily at her sore tired eyes. The question that Kyoko asked her then registered in her head and she answered almost immediately, if not in a somewhat slurred tone. "Yeah, m'fine. Didn't get as much sl-sleep as I usually did."

She stretched her arms over her head and tried to stifle a yawn.

Her classmate and friend looked concerned. "Maybe you should go to the nurse's office if you aren't feeling that well."

Stifling another yawn, Noelle waved off Kyoko's worries. "As I said, I'll be okay. Just a little sleepy; nothing to be frantic about. Besides, school's nearly over so I'll be fine."

But Noelle's enthusiasm in convincing the school idol that she was okay didn't work. Though that may have been the fact that she nearly tripped on her own feet getting out from behind her desk.

"See! I'm perfectly okay!" Yeah, even _Noelle _didn't believe that.

She took a few more steps before crashing into another desk with a thud.

"Noelle-chan..."

"Yeah, I know."

With Gokudera's grudging help at the prodding of the one he called the Tenth, Noelle made it to the nurse's office and was immediately fussed over by a kind woman who was the nurse before Dr. Shamal, the most notorious doctor to have ever existed in being both perverse and dangerous through use of infections.

How exactly _did _Shamal get the job anyways?

And why did Noelle have an ominous feeling that Reborn might have had something to do with the current nurse quitting and the womanizer doctor getting the job? Not that it would have surprised her or anything, considering that the evil baby hitman did food poison four people so that Tsuna would be forced into playing a volley ball game.

Now that she was on a proper bed with a fluffy pillow, Noelle was able to easily catch up on sleep. She didn't need much of it since she slept through most of her classes, but it was still nice to not wake up with a cramp in her neck. Or a ruler meeting the back of her head courtesy of whatever teacher was teaching at that moment.

0000

When she woke up again, the sun was beginning to set. The temporary rest had done wonders as she felt extremely well-rested and refreshed. Thanking the nurse, she took her school bag that a boy that strongly resembled Tsuna's description had so kindly dropped off for her after school had finished for the day.

Stretching her arms, she walked past the baseball field to see a lone figure holding a baseball bat. Standing several feet away from the figure was a baseball pitching machine that launched white baseballs at an extremely fast speed which the person would hit into the distance.

There was only person who was that good at baseball and would stay this late to practice their batting skills.

Yamamoto.

From the other side of the fence, Noelle silently watched. Something in her stomach lurched and she bit down hard on her lip. There was no doubt that the baseball player would eventually become Tsuna's Rain Guardian but there were two versions as to how that had happened: the one that Noelle was more familiarized with was when he had obliviously joined while holding a stick of _lit _dynamite, thinking that it was just a super fun game.

The other version was because Tsuna inadvertently said something that resulted in Yamamoto breaking his arm during practice and then attempting to commit suicide by jumping off the school roof.

While Noelle thought that the baseball player's reason for trying to end his life was stupid, it probably didn't seem like a dumb idea to him. Baseball was his passion, and who was she to pass judgement on such thinking? If she could no longer do something she passionately loved doing, she'd probably be in a state of despair.

Noelle shook her head to clear her head of such thinking.

No.

It had been a spur of the moment thing. The idea had most likely not settled into his head immediately since he didn't try to kill himself when he went home after getting his broken arm patched up.

Which she supposed was a good thing since at least Tsuna was able to save his life, with Reborn's help.

"Noelle-chan!" The blonde looked up to see the sweaty dark haired boy waving at her, grin on his face. He had just been taking a momentary breather when he spotted the foreign student staring blankly at him.

"Did you get a good sleep?" He shouted at her from across the field.

She was about to answer back when movement from her peripheral vision caused her to pale. Yamamoto hadn't turned off the pitching machine and with it being an automatic meant for the purpose launching baseballs, did not understand that the black haired boy was completely unprepared to hit the ball back.

"Yamamoto! Look out!"

But by that time, it was already too late.

There was a sickening crack and Yamamoto fell over on to the ground, clutching his now broken arm and groaning in pain. Noelle immediately raced to the machine to shut it off while simultaneously bringing out her cellphone to call for an ambulance to bring him to the hospital.

She went over to Yamamoto, her stomach churning and her face even more pale than when she saw that the baseball player had forgotten to turn off the machine.

While Noelle knew that Tsuna would save him tomorrow, it was still unsettling to know what Yamamoto would try on the school roof tomorrow.

0000

The blonde bit her thumbnail as she agitatedly glanced up at the clock. Only fifteen minutes had passed, but it felt like an eternity having to wait for the doctor to apply the cast onto the baseball player's broken arm.

Since Noelle didn't have the number of Yamamoto residence or the restaurant his dad owned and Yamamoto himself was in too much pain to tell her anything, it was the woman at the receptionist desk who had to be the one who to break the bad news to his father about what had happened to his son.

Her foot tapped the white polished floor impatiently, as she continued her bad habit of chewing on her thumbnail whenever she was nervous. She had to learn to control that, since she realized a long time ago that it was a good indication for any keen observer that she was lying or not entirely telling the truth or a nervous wreck.

But she couldn't help it.

His suicide attempt was a failure and yes, Tsuna was going to save him; but this wasn't fiction anymore. Yamamoto was an actual living, breathing person. She had been told repeatedly by the Serafin and even herself that in whatever form they existed back in her old world, it was much different here and that she had to learn to adapt to that otherwise she could end up seriously screwing things up from what she had knowledge of.

Like someone getting killed when they aren't supposed to die at that time.

But all that didn't seem to hit her until now.

And it hit hard.

How the hell was she supposed to make it through KHR without going insane when she was already freaking out about the beginning chapters of the story where Yamamoto literally owes Tsuna his life after the whole falling off the school roof fiasco? What they go through in the Kokuyo, Varia and Future arcs made the upcoming scenario look _cute _in comparison.

The last thought made Noelle laugh in a hysterical way; great, she was beginning to think her classmate's descent into depression was something to be giggling at.

"TAKESHI!" The yell made the blonde jump up in her seat and whirl her head towards the hospital entrance.

Rushing into the waiting room and towards the receptionist was none other than the owner of the sushi bar that Noelle occasionally ate dinner at, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto. She could tell that he came straight from the restaurant since he was wearing his chef outfit, not bothering to change out of it as he rushed to the hospital to make sure that his son was okay.

"Sir!" The receptionist glared at the man disapprovingly. "This is a hospital and I expect you to keep your voice down! Now tell me-"

She was cut off instantly when Tsuyoshi shouted at her in indignation, "MY SON IS IN THE HOSPITAL AND YOU WANT ME TO KEEP MY VOICE DOWN?"

Noelle winced at the volume of the man's voice and glanced towards the doors to indeed see the security quickly rushing towards them. Deciding that Yamamoto's dad getting kicked out of the hospital would probably end with stuff going down, she quickly went over to him and pulled him aside, shooting the guards a look that told them to stay away.

"Mister Yamamoto, calm down!" She said, her grip tightening around the man's shoulders as she dragged him outside to try and get him to calm down before they were kicked out. "Your son's alright! He just has his arm broken and the doctor's putting on the cast!"

The man, too caught up in his emotions about how his son was doing, finally stopped struggling within her grasp at her words. Now that he was no longer going to rush into the hospital like an enraged bull, Noelle let him go.

"Ah, it's you." Yamamoto's dad said, recognizing the person who had so easily pulled him outside.

"Um, yes." She said. "I was the one who was there when Yamamoto broke his arm."

"So you were the one who brought him to the hospital?"

"Called the ambulance, but pretty much the same thing." Noelle could have brought the baseball player to the hospital herself, but she decided that it would just be quicker to have an emergency vehicle bring him there instead as well as the fact that she could easily damage his arm even more in some way.

"I see." And for the first time that she saw him charge into the waiting room like a rampaging bear, he looked relieved. Tired, but relieved all the same. "So he doesn't have to stay overnight?"

Noelle shook her head. "No."

"Hey, dad. I heard you yelling in the waiting room." The voice caused the both of them to turn to see an exhausted looking Yamamoto staring at them. He was smiling, but there was something forced about it that made Noelle cringe. "Noelle-chan."

"Takeshi, are you alright?" And like any good father, Tsuyoshi descended upon his son with concern lined all over his face.

"Yeah, dad. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Anyone who knew Yamamoto really well or who was a really good observer could tell that Yamamoto was anything but 'fine'. Tsuyoshi and Noelle were both in those categories, but they chose not to point it out and instead leave it at Yamamoto's fake reassurances of him being alright. There wasn't much they could do other than force him to admit to the fact that he wasn't 'fine' as he put it.

Seeing as she was just a third wheel in the situation, the blonde thought it was high time for her to leave.

Waving good bye to father and son, Noelle left them dreading tomorrow.

0000

_"Noelle, is that you?"_ Sarah's voice said from the other line.

The girl's eyes rolled, but she didn't say anything. Noelle didn't have the energy to make any retorts, not that she would've if she was talking to Sarah of all people. Sarah would no doubt come to Japan just for the mere purpose of whacking her on the head with a staff for any cheeky remarks she made.

"Yes."

_"This is the first time we've heard from you since you arrived in Japan!" _

"Yeah." Noelle said, a chill running up her spine. There was an undertone in her teacher's voice that told her she wasn't at all pleased at the fact that the girl hadn't contacted them yet. "Sorry, life's been hectic with homework, school and watching the tenth candidate panic as revelations start dropping all over the place."

_"Well I guess that's understandable."_ Sarah admitted grudgingly. _"So why did you call? I can tell something's up." _

Noelle shrugged, even though Sarah couldn't see it. It was just a force of habit. "Just... needed to talk."

_"...Ah." _Her teacher's voice was soft that the girl had to strain to hear her. _"I'll go and get Feliciano then." _

Huh?

Noelle's expression deadpanned. She just wanted to talk to someone, even if it was Sarah.

As if reading her thoughts, Sarah said, _"Feliciano's better at this sort of thing than I am." _

And before Noelle could say anything, a click told her that Sarah had hung up on her line and was most likely contacting Feliciano on another one.

Noelle leaned back against the railings of her balcony as she looked down at the town below. She was sitting down as it felt pretty hot in her apartment and the cold night breeze helped her relax more. But now that Sarah had went to get Feliciano, she could feel her blood racing again as her realization from just a few days after she had arrived in Japan hit her months later.

She figured out why Feliciano looked so familiar now.

He was Italy from _Hetalia._

Or at least an alternate universe version of him. As much as she would have liked to say that it was impossible, she'd be a complete hypocrite in saying that because wasn't she the protector of someone she thought was the main character of a manga she read often? So why would the concept of Feliciano in some other universe being the personification of the northern half of Italy be such a shock?

Which would explain his pasta obsession.

Though maybe it was a good thing that she didn't fully recognize him until after she had left the mansion. It would have been really awkward being in his company.

It was funny though; whenever she tried to recall why he had looked so familiar, she'd stumble across some sort of mind block that would give her a huge migraine whenever she tried to go past it. Noelle eventually just chalked it up to being one of those Serafin things she'd never get. Though it probably helped that the Feliciano she knew was completely different from the one in Hetalia.

_"Hello?" _Speak of the devil, he was on.

"Hey, sensei." She said, using the japanese form of teacher.

_"Sarah said you wanted to talk to me?" _

Noelle chuckled softly. "Not necessarily you; just to someone who would listen to me vent."

_"So that's why she asked me to get on the phone." _He sighed.

"You don't mind?"

_"As long as it isn't anything that drifts into female only talk, I can handle it." _

"Trust me, it's not. I wouldn't dare talk to you about the nightmares of the monthly female menstruation cycle."

There was a choking sound on the other line that made the blonde smirk and the apprehension and tension of talking to him lessen.

"Anyways," Noelle sighed, getting down to the real reason as to why she had called the mansion in the first place. Her mind scrambled to find words to put her worries in, but she settled for saying, "Knowing the future sucks."

_"So it's that. I was told you were aware of the events happening in Tsunayoshi Sawada's life." _There was a pause. _"So what's happening that has you so worried?" _

"Well, a classmate of mine broke his practicing baseball today. And tomorrow, he's going to try and commit suicide by jumping off the school roof. I don't think the idea of it has quite settled in his head yet, but it's getting there."

_"...I see..." _Feliciano sounded unsure of what to say.

"He won't succeed because Tsuna saves his life and he joins the Vongola famiglia as his future Rain Guardian."

_"Noelle. Hold it." _Feliciano cut in, sounding serious.

"What?"

_"If you can, it's best to withhold any knowledge of future events from anyone other than yourself." _

"Alright." Noelle nodded. "Anyways, that's not what I'm worried about. If I'm freaking out about all this at the beginning, how in the world am I going to make it through the rest of the story?"

_"It's not a story anymore." _

"So I've been told."

There was a long sigh. _"But that's it. It's no longer a story and the events happening around you are as real as before you had died. Tell me, is this classmate of yours a friend?" _

"Not really. I mean, we might become friends later on but we just talked whenever we were in PE or if there was free time."

_"But you are concerned about him." _

"Of course I am!" Noelle sat up straighter, sounding annoyed.

Feliciano chuckled. _"Good. It means that you'll be a fine Guardian Angel, then."_

"What?" She deadpanned.

_"The fact that you feel so unsettled and restless just means you have perfectly normal human emotions. If you didn't feel nervous at all, that would be a little worrying." _

"I guess?"

_"And while your knowledge is helpful in you predicting that things will be alright in the end, it's also burdening. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, because as strong and as seemingly invincible the Serafin are to those outside, we all carry a heavy burden. Some more so than others, you included." _

"Huh?" Okay, she wasn't expecting _that _at all.

_"Knowledge of the future is not something you should take lightly at all. Remember that."_ There was a long pause. _"And another thing that you should keep in mind is that all the Serafin are liars." _

0000

"Is it just me or do you look even worse than you did yesterday?"

Noelle raised her head from her arms to look up and glare at Hana. There were dark circles underneath her eyes and her hair was done up in a slightly messy ponytail as she hadn't bothered thinking of what to do with her hair today. As much as she liked switching hair styles everyday, she just didn't have the patience or energy to do that today.

"Was it really that hard to tell?" She asked before dropping her head back down and trying her best to ignore the accumulating pain of her throbbing head.

"Geez, what happened?" Hana shook her head. She bent down and placed a hand on the blonde's forehead before quickly yanking it back. "You're burning up. Should you even be here?"

Noelle's response was a pained groan. She had been sleeping in most of her classes and she didn't feel any better. It was lunch time, but she didn't have the energy to push through hoards of students to go and get food.

Feliciano's words had done the opposite effect of what she had wanted; instead of reassuring her it had given her more to worry about and as a result she hadn't slept the night before and she had a fever that would bed-ridden most people. Normally, this would have given her the delightful excuse to stay home and skip school for a few days, but considering what was about to happen she pushed herself to walk those painful fifteen minutes to Namimori Middle.

"Serra-san, are you alright?" Noelle looked up to see caramel orbs staring down in concern.

She gave the owner a small smile. "I'm fine, Tsuna." She said.

Tsuna did not seem to believe her, even when she gave him a thumbs up sign.

"A-are you sure?"

_Actually, no. But I'm here anyways to make sure that you save Yamamoto from his own stupidity just like you did in the plot, _Noelle thought but didn't say out loud for the purposes of not screwing things over.

"HEY EVERYONE!"

Noelle groaned at the loud voice and the sound of the door slamming. Wasn't morning supposed to be a subdued time for students since they were still half-asleep?

"Yamamoto is about to jump off the roof!"

_..._Never mind. She was glad the guy came barging into the classroom and yelled that.

Placing her hands on her desk, she used it to force herself onto her feet only stumbling once as she did so. Honestly, of all the times to actually come down with something, it had to be _today_?

Naturally since Yamamoto was a smiling cheery guy who was always grinning, the thought of the baseball player trying to take his own life clearly had to be someone yanking their legs. Because there was no way that _Yamamoto _of all people would try to commit suicide.

Right?

_Wrong. _

"Yamamoto from our class?" One student asked, looking extremely doubtful.

Another one scoffed. "Hm? That's impossible!"

"There are good and bad pranks, you know." Said one of Yamamoto's fangirls.

But the boy looked serious as he tried to convince his classmates that he wasn't joking and Yamamoto really was on the roof top. "When he stayed after school practicing yesterday he went too far and broke his arm!"

Guilt seeped through Noelle. That might have been true in the original version, but she was sure that it was _her _fault that he was distracted and had forgotten about the fact that the pitching machine was still on.

_Damn. _

She was already screwing things up already.

The class seemed to take the messenger seriously and they followed him to the roof top like sharks after the scent of blood.

Huh.

Sharks reminded her of the loud mouthed idiot who yelled 'VOI' all the time. What was his name again?

Tsuna was standing in place, no doubt paralyzed about whether it was his fault that the cheerful baseball player was in the state he was in right now. He didn't seem careful of any rational thought, so Noelle thought that she give him a push and snap him out of it.

"Hey Tsuna." Noelle smacked him on the head hard enough to get his attention. "Go prevent that idiot from killing himself."

"Me?" Tsuna jumped. "What can I do?"

Noelle smiled at him. "More than you know. Now go and tell him that if he kills himself, he'll regret it after wards."

Tsuna just stared at her as if she was insane before something clicked in his mind. With a determined look, he nodded and raced off to prevent a tragedy that would no doubt affect the entire school if he was too late.

"Noelle-chan! Aren't you coming?" Kyoko asked, startling Noelle. The blonde must have been pretty out of it if she didn't notice that the school idol had still been in the room when she was telling Tsuna to get a move on.

"Yes! I am!" Noelle said, following after the girl as best as she could.

0000

Noelle shoved through the sea of students as she forced her way deeper into the crowd. Tsuna had gotten to Yamamoto in time and was now telling him that he didn't agree with the reason as to why the baseball player should end his life.

As she made her way through, she could feel her anger at Yamamoto bubbling. She understood that baseball was more than a game to him, but a broken arm didn't mean he could never play again; only that he wouldn't be able to play until it was fully healed. The damned baseball gods never threw him away because baseball gods didn't even exist in the first place!

Hearing Tsuna's words of even how much he was called 'No-good Tsuna', he never had the thoughts of ending his own life like what Yamamoto was planning at that moment. His inspirational words stunned the students who were listening to him and there was a flicker in Yamamoto's eyes as something in his classmate's words seemed to reach that thick head of his.

"Um... bye!" Tsuna said, turning around and quickly running away from him thinking he had made a complete fool of himself.

"Tsuna, wait!" The dark haired boy reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, yanking Tsuna towards him.

Noelle had no idea what she had been doing when she executed her next move in several seconds. Maybe it was the fever's fault for her interrupting or for not thinking straight at all, but before she knew it she had grabbed both Yamamoto and Tsuna by their arms to yank them back onto the safety of roof.

But even inhuman strength could not beat the laws of gravity as Yamamoto's falling backwards had propelled all three of them to fall from the roof with Noelle still holding onto their arms.

On both sides of her, Yamamoto and Tsuna were yelling and she could hear the screams of their school mates from above as they watched the three of them fall.

Unlike everyone else, Noelle wasn't screaming in fear but rather grimacing at how much making contact with the ground after her fall would hurt. She knew she couldn't die, but there were witnesses all over the place and _someone _would be questioning how she survived falling off a roof top.

There was a loud bang and when Noelle looked over, she saw the flame on Tsuna's head appear and his eyes lighting up and giving him that deranged look that still made him look like a criminal.

"Mid-air Reborn!" Tsuna ripped out of his clothes. "Save Yamamoto and Serra-chan with my dying will!"

Tsuna slipped his hand out of Noelle's and started running down the side of the building as he leaped between the two of them and grabbed onto their waists.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto shouted.

"Damn! Can't stop!"

"How much impact do you think your legs can take?" Noelle asked, looking over at Tsuna. In dying will mode, he'd probably make it out fine but she still wasn't sure.

There was another bang and to both her and Yamamoto's amazement, a spring sprouted from the top of Tsuna's head.

"IT ITCHES! ITCHES"

Then there was a loud boing and then all three of them found themselves flying sideways instead of downwards. Noelle landed on the ground first, flat on her stomach and face buried into the dirt...

...while Yamamoto and Tsuna landed right on top of her.

"Yamamoto, are you alright?" Tsuna asked as his dying will flames receded.

"Tsuna." Yamamoto said in a serious voice.

"Yes?" He yelped.

Noelle imagined Yamamoto breaking out into a grin when he said his next words. "You're amazing! Just like you said, you have to do it with a dying will!"

The blonde wondered when they were going to notice that they were having a conversation on top of her. As much as she would have liked to yell and tell them to get off, one of them was sitting where her lungs should be, making it difficult for her to breathe.

"I don't know what I was thinking! Nothing good comes from my idiocy!"

"Yamamoto..." Tsuna sounded relieved.

Okay. She didn't care if she was cutting into the scene or not, but she could not breathe and the both of them were heavy! Though it was mostly Yamamoto's fault since he was taller than Tsuna and worked out more. Muscle mass was much heavier than fat.

"Mmmph!" Noelle screamed into the dirt. Hopefully _that _would get their attention.

"Eh?" There was silence for a few seconds and then she could no longer feel their weight on top of her as the two of them instantly scrambled off.

"HIEEE! Serra-san, are you alright?"

There was no response except for a thumbs up as she continued to lie face down on the dirt. The ground felt surprisingly cool and it was helping her keep that dratted fever down.

"...she isn't moving. Tsuna, do you think we should take her to the nurse's office?"

"That's right! Kurokawa-san said that she had a fever!"

"Eh? We should bring her then!"

Someone lifted her off the ground and placed her arm around their neck. Noelle assumed that it would be Tsuna since the idiot who had tried to kill himself had a broken arm.

"...hold on a minute, Tsuna." Noelle mumbled, making the boy pause. "...gotta do something first before we go." She slipped her arm out of Tsuna's grasp, walked over to Yamamoto and...

...stomped on his foot hard.

"You stupid idiot!" Noelle growled. "The hell were you thinking? You were going to kill yourself because you broke your arm?"

"Serra-san!" Tsuna was startled. "You shouldn't-"

But Noelle ignored him. She needed to give Yamamoto a good piece of her mind because there was no way she was just going to let him walk off without knowing the consequences his impromptu stunt would have had on the people around him.

"Did you think about your dad? How do you think he would have felt when he lost his son as well?" When she had been eating dinner at their sushi bar, Yamamoto told her that his mother had died when he was very young and his dad was the only person left in the world who mattered to him very much. From the way he talked about it, his dad dying would have a more than devastating effect on him. "Were you that willing to take away the pride and joy of his life?"

Noelle could have said more, but the look on Yamamoto's face told her she had said enough.

"Serra-san!" Noelle turned to face Tsuna, who looked... angry? "How can you say such a thing?"

Before she could say anything, Yamamoto spoke up.

"No, it's alright Tsuna." There was a melancholy expression on his face, despite him smiling. "Noelle-chan's right. I wasn't thinking... you're both right. I would have regretted dying once I was in the after life."

"Yamamoto..."

"Anyways, I've learned my lesson!" He broke out into a grin, that made Noelle want to roll her eyes but she kindly refrained from doing so. Now was not the time to be exasperated at him.

"Well, that's good." She sighed, turning on her heel and walking away.

Or at least she tried to because she didn't even take one step before she fell flat on her face.

"Noelle-chan!"

"Serra-san!"

She didn't say anything as she finally allowed herself to drift to sleep after two days of constant worrying.

* * *

><p><strong>And I'm done. Oh god, each chapter keeps getting longer and longer. I have no idea why. And if it's this long at the beginning, I just can't wait till it gets to the more action like parts. <strong>

**Phwee... my fingers. **

**Anyways, yes, the Feliciano in this fic is alternate northern Italy but with a much different personality. But he still loves pasta lots. Hands up if anyone saw that coming. **

**And I came up with Noelle's theme! It's 'This is where I fall' from HetaOni. A bit sad, but it's still a lovely piece of music. Or you can protest it being her theme song, but listen to it first before you decide, alright? Or Friendship. Friendship makes a good theme for Noelle too and it's also from HetaOni, a past obsession of mine.**

**Also, I made a Formspring account for Noelle (I was bored, come on) so if you feel like it, you can ask her questions. Just so you know, there might be some questions that she can't answer. **

**Here's the link! **

http:/www(dot)formspring(dot)me/SerafinAngel


	10. Visit

**And for the first time ever since I started posting up this story, we're going to be starting off on Tsuna's POV. Cause he's the original main character of KHR and because I also needed a new angle to work at. So then I thought, why not? I can't focus on Noelle all the time. So... here you go! I was originally going to update this next Sunday, but meh... I'll make an exception for now (I seem to be making a lot of those these days, don't I?)  
><strong>

**And don't forget the Formspring if any of you guys feel bored! **

**http:/www(dot)formspring(dot)me/SerafinAngel**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I only own Noelle and the Serafin.**

* * *

><p><strong>Visit<strong>

"This... is where Serra-chan lives?" Tsuna gulped, looking at the tall apartment complex that towered over him and his friends.

It had been over a week since Yamamoto had become his friend much to the ire of his self-proclaimed right hand man Gokudera and they were standing outside of the place Noelle lived into deliver the homework and notes that she had missed due to her absence on Reborn's _insistence. _

Even though there had been obvious signs of a fever after Tsuna had saved them from being flattened pancakes on the ground, Noelle had still come to school the very next day on the claims that she had to do her duty as Tsuna's protector. Though it wouldn't have really made a difference if she was there or not due to the fact she was pretty much passed out in all of her classes until one of the teachers noticed that something was wrong and ordered several students to take her to the nurse's office to rest until school was over.

Though that may have been a good thing since Gokudera's older sister _Bianchi _had decided to drop in that day and try to lure Reborn back into the life of being a free lancing hitman that day. In which Tsuna would have been all too glad to do; give the baby tutor to her if it meant that he'd finally get him out of his hair. But as usual, he had no such luck and she tried to kill him with her poisonous cooking methods.

"Ha ha ha!" Yamamoto laughed beside him, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the building. "Noelle-chan lives in a really nice place!"

When he had heard that Tsuna was going to visit Noelle to give her her homework, the baseball player was stubborn that he come along with him to see her as well, despite Tsuna's assurances that he didn't have to.

On Tsuna's other side, Gokudera grunted. As the Tenth's right hand, there was no way he was going to let him go to some other person's house without him. What if the other side decided to come along that day and try to kill him?

"Reborn," Tsuna glanced at the baby sitting on Yamamoto's shoulder. "Are you sure this is where she lives?"

This was one of the nicest places in town. She'd have to be rich to afford living in an apartment like this.

Tsuna yelped, falling over and scattering Noelle's homework onto the street as the baby hitman's foot collided with his cheek painfully. "Reborn, what was that for?" He asked, placing a hand over the hit area as to prevent it from swelling too much.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said in that squeaky, some what condescending voice of his. "Do you really doubt my information gathering skills?"

The boy wanted to retort that he doubted _everything _the baby did considering the past events of his life, but there was a glint in those black eyes of his that told Tsuna it would be very wise that he keep his mouth shut or suffer more than just a kick to the face.

"Let's go in!" Yamamoto grinned, walking into the building.

"Baseball freak, don't just give out orders!" Gokudera growled, following after him after he had helped Tsuna up.

Tsuna couldn't help but stare after them. Even though Gokudera was constantly under the impression that Yamamoto (and possibly Noelle) was his rival, the so-called rivalry between them was one-sided because the baseball player didn't seem to see himself as such and considered him and the silver haired transfer student good friends.

When he entered the building, his two friends were at the receptionist's (there was a _receptionist _in her building) desk, talking to a woman who looked as if she was constantly smelling something unpleasant. The look she gave them and Tsuna when he came into view was something that said she didn't think they belonged here at all. To avoid her intimidating gaze, Tsuna bowed his head and looked at his feet.

"Serra Noelle. Yes, I'll ring her up." The woman sniffed; it was obvious she didn't seem to think too highly of the girl either.

She picked up the phone on her desk and dialed in a number. As they waited for the receptionist to confirm... whatever she needed to, Tsuna looked at Reborn who had hopped off Yamamoto's shoulder.

"Hey Reborn," Tsuna said, bending down so he could talk to his tutor on a more proper level. "How come you wanted me to drop off Serra-chan's homework?"

"It's because no one else would have volunteered and it wouldn't do to have someone fall behind on their school work just because they over worked themselves trying to save you."

"Hmm..." Tsuna eyed the baby suspiciously. While he suspected that that was part of the reason as to why Reborn had made him drop in for a visit, there must have been an ulterior motive behind it. There must be! Reborn didn't do anything nice for no reason; there was usually a catch!

A loud ding interrupted them and everyone looked towards the elevators to see a man with chocolate brown hair and amber eyes step out of it. He was incredibly handsome, and the receptionist knew it too as the expression that she had taken with the three middle-school boys had changed dramatically to that of someone who actually enjoyed their job and was enjoying it at that very moment (if only to give the man a very good impression of herself).

It was amazing how one could get others to change their attitudes or get them to do anything they wanted for them if they were very good looking.

"I've come to pick up Noelle Serra's guests." He said politely to the receptionist, throwing in a charming smile for good measure.

"O-of course!" The woman stammered, pink tinging her cheeks.

The man who came down the elevator smiled again and gestured for the boys and the baby to follow him. Tsuna glanced over his shoulder at the receptionist who seemed to have melted into a metaphorical puddle.

"Tsuna! Come or we'll leave you behind!"

Tsuna turned back and realized that the others were waiting for him to get in. With a quick apology, he quickly entered the elevator that would take him to the floor that Noelle lived on.

0000

"GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!" Was the first thing they heard when the man who had introduced himself as Feliciano opened the door of their classmate's apartment.

Feliciano sighed as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"Come now, Noe." A woman's soothing voice said. "It'll help you feel better."

"No it won't! That's for colds!" Noelle's voice screamed. "And even then, it's not a hundred percent cure! And you got that an idea from a manga you were just reading!"

Tsuna and Yamamoto looked at each other, slight confusion on their faces. The blonde sounded panicked about something; this was the first time they had ever heard her so freaked out.

"Well if you'd just stay still..." The woman sounded annoyed.

"So you can shove that up my-"

"Signori!" Feliciano coughed, cutting off whatever Noelle had been about to say. "We have guests here!" He gestured for them to enter the house and after taking off their shoes and putting on the slippers that was provided for them at the entrance, they walked into the living room to see an interesting sight.

Dressed in plain blue flannel pajamas, Noelle was backed into the wall with a wary and apprehensive expression on her face while standing a few feet away from her was a beautiful woman with long golden red hair holding a leek. Said woman was twirling the leek in her hand like it was a baton with an eerie smile on her face.

"It'll cure your fever faster~!" The red head chirped.

"I keep telling you it won't!" Came Noelle's nervous reply as she eyed the leek. "It's a manga gag! It doesn't actually work!"

Somehow, someway, the Serafin had discovered that she had come down with a fever. The first day that she decided to stay home from school and was lying on the living room couch with the balcony window open so that the cool air would wash over her, both her teachers showed up with the intention of taking care of her. That had been ten days ago and while her fever was beginning to die down, she had a feeling that their being in her household was part of the reason of why it was taking so long for her to get better.

"What's going on now?" Feliciano asked, placing a hand over the left side of his face, his temple rubbing the area above his eyebrow.

Before Noelle could say anything, Yamamoto interrupted.

"Oh, is that for insertion?" He asked with a grin.

Everyone stared at him; Noelle and Tsuna with identical looks of horror, Gokudera with irritation (surprise, surprise) and Feliciano with amusement. All the while, Sarah smiled sweetly at him for his correct guess.

"Yup! It'll help Noe heal faster!"

"NOT!" Noelle sounded completely horrified.

"Ha ha ha!" Yamamoto was grinning. "Why don't you try it, Noelle-chan? It might help!"

"Are you trying to kill me!"

After five minutes of screaming, knocking over furniture, people getting hit and finally convincing a certain red-head that a leek was not going to cure Noelle's fever, they were able to settle down (at last) in the living room, sitting across from each other at the coffee table while Feliciano and Sarah worked in the kitchen to presumably give Noelle some privacy with them.

"Sorry about that," The red-faced blonde said, her face flushed as she avoided the gaze of her classmates. Honestly, of all the times that they could have come in it just had to be during _that _scenario.

"You have a fun family, Noelle-chan!" Yamamoto said, oblivious as usual.

"Uh, sure." Noelle didn't even bother explaining to him that _fun _would be the last adjective she'd used to describe her teachers from hell. "So, uh, I'm glad you guys came over to see me but any particular reason why?"

"Because we wanted to, why else?"

"..oh." She wasn't quite sure what to say after that.

"We came to deliver your homework," Reborn stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "And..."

"Hey Reborn," Tsuna said, a dreading feeling in the pit of his stomach as he guessed what was going to come next. "Don't drag her into this!"

"Join Tsuna's family."

"Huh?"

Even though she was sort of expecting it, hearing the hitman baby ask her was still a bit surprising as she wasn't one hundred percent sure he'd even try to recruit her. Though unsurprisingly, Tsuna was very against her joining as he still did not want to be the mafia boss that Reborn seemed insistent on making him as.

"Reborn! Don't go around recruiting my friends!"

Noelle froze and her cheeks reddened as she just realized that Tsuna had just addressed her as a _friend._ She looked to the side again, trying not to let the others see the blood rushing up to her cheeks though with her fever, she could easily hide it claiming that she wasn't feeling all that well.

But friends?

That... was a nice thought. Not that she ever intended in not being their friend, but it was still nice to hear it said out loud.

She could hear the smirk in Reborn's voice. "You would be a powerful addition to the family with that strength of yours."

"That's right," Yamamoto mused. "You're incredibly strong with the way you hit that ball and when you broke that desk defending Tsuna!"

"I didn't break the desk." Noelle muttered. "Just splintered the top of it."

"Either way, that was amazing!"

"Exactly." Reborn's eyes may have been hidden by his black fedora, but his smirk was there for all of them to see. Both Tsuna and Noelle could feel the baby's not so nice intentions radiating off of him, making them shiver. It seemed that they were the only ones (except for those well-versed in the mafia world) fully aware of what he was capable of. "Besides, wouldn't accepting this make your job of keeping an eye on Tsuna much easier?"

Everyone (with the exception of Yamamoto) froze.

"...yes." Noelle said so softly a minute later that they could barely hear her. "It would make things easier, wouldn't it?"

This was what she had been waiting for all along. If she joined the Vongola, she would certainly be dragged into the events of Tsuna's life just do her duty as she was supposed to according to her assignment.

So why did she feel incredibly bad about it when she had glanced over at Tsuna? When she saw those hurt eyes that gazed at her and then immediately look away when he realized that she was looking back at him.

"So do you accept?"

Noelle closed her eyes, a long silence draping over the room. Finally, she opened them again to reveal blue orbs that seemed sharper than before.

"Yes, I accept your offer."

"Good," Reborn said with an air of finality in it.

"Is Noelle-chan going to be joining us in playing the game too?" Yamamoto asked, disrupting the awkward silence that was starting to settle in.

"Yes, she is."

0000

_"Tenth, what's wrong?" Gokudera asked, startled to see that the future Vongola Decimo was looking so down._

_"Eh?" Yamamoto glanced at the boy who was walking between them to see that Tsuna indeed seemed a bit subdued ever since they left Noelle's place. "Yeah Tsuna, what's the matter?"_

_"I was just thinking about why Noelle is even here in the first place. Was it just because I'm a tenth Vongola candidate?" _

_"Well, she has said that." The Hurricane bomber looked thoughtful before he saw the brunet looking even more depressed than he did just a few minutes ago. "T-tenth!" _

_"Ha ha!" Yamamoto threw back his head and laughed. _

_"What's so funny, baseball freak?" Gokudera snapped at him. "Can't you see that the Tenth is upset?" _

_"Yeah!" He gave Gokudera his trademark smile. "I know what you're talking about now!" _

_"You do?" Tsuna and Gokudera echoed; the former in surprise while the latter said it in annoyance. _

_"Yup!" He grinned. "But I think Noelle-chan genuinely likes you! She's not that type of person to do something like that just because someone asks her to. She does it because she wants to." _

_"And how would you know that?" Gokudera growled. _

_Yamamoto's smile sobered and he looked just like that day when he was on the roof. "When everyone was teasing Tsuna about his confession, Noelle-chan defended him looking angrier than I have ever seen her." His lucid gaze traveled up to the sky. "She wouldn't have been so angry if she hadn't meant any of those words." _

_He chuckled. _

_"And there was that time she got angry at me when I tried to jump off the roof." He rubbed the back of his head. "What I'm trying to say is Noelle-chan is a very sincere person!"  
><em>

_There was stunned silence as Tsuna and Gokudera stared at the normally jovial baseball player. _

_"She also defended you those other times." He was referring to the times Noelle had glared at anyone who added 'Dame' in front of Tsuna's name. As a result, the teasing died down but there were still people who addressed him as such. Though when Gokudera transferred in, hardly anyone called him that any more unless they were sure they were out of ear shot of the Hurricane bomber or the blonde.  
><em>

_"Y-yeah." And Tsuna was smiling again. So even though Noelle came to Namimori just for the sole purpose of watching him and making sure nothing horrible happens, her words of encouragement and standing up for him were all sincere as Yamamoto said. _

_Gokudera wasn't as convinced and he was going to pay her a visit tomorrow without either Juudaime or the baseball freak knowing about it.  
><em>

0000

"Noe," Sarah called from outside her bedroom.

The blonde in question was propped up against her bed reading a book since she didn't feel like watching TV and she was too lazy to get out of bed. She glanced at the door before responding back.

"Yes?"

"You have a visitor."

"Just one?"

"One of the boys from yesterday."

Sarah must have meant either Yamamoto, Tsuna or Gokudera. It must been either of the formers as she couldn't actually picture the silver haired boy coming over to visit her by himself; he'd probably only come if the future mafia boss had decided to come.

So imagine her surprise when she saw that it _was _Gokudera of all people sitting in her living room.

"I never expected to see you here," Noelle raised an eyebrow, sitting across from him by the same coffee table they had sat by when Tsuna, Yamamoto and Reborn were all there with them yesterday.

Gokudera grunted, glaring daggers at her. His very unnerving glare was enough to make fully grown men run for the hills but since she had already faced a psychotic popular rich girl, been thrown off a water fall at the age of seven and had suffered through Sarah's many less than sane faces that she never wanted to see again, Noelle was hardly fazed by it at all.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of you visiting me for?"

"What is your reason for protecting the Tenth?"

"Eh?" He wanted to talk about Tsuna? Why was she not surprised by that?

"Why are you protecting the Tenth in the first place?" Gokudera rephrased his question, gritting his teeth.

"I told you several weeks ago that it's because I was assigned the task of making sure he would be okay."

"Is that all?"

Staring into Gokudera's green eyes, Noelle could see anger and his accusing her of something. But what exactly would he be accusing her of the first place?

"So you were never Tenth's friend?" He spat. "Even though he always considered you as one?"

His... _friend_? Of course she was his friend, didn't he say so yesterday-

"Ah, so that's what you mean." Noelle's blue eyes softened, showing understanding at what Gokudera's green accusing eyes as well as questions meant. She supposed that her being in Namimori solely just because of her task of protecting Tsuna made it sound that her being nice to him or defending him in class was just her doing her duty of being his Guardian Angel.

"The truth is, I don't think I really became his friend until yesterday." Noelle sighed, looking Gokudera straight in the eye. "But hearing that he considered me as one made me happy."

A soft, gentle smile graced her lips as she remembered the boy's exact words.

_"Reborn! Don't go around recruiting my friends!"_

A warm feeling washed over her when she imagined those words again.

_"..._I see." Gokudera suddenly stood up.

Noelle gave him a questioning gaze.

"I got what I came here for." He said, walking towards the door. He stooped down and grabbed his school before showing himself out without so much as a good bye.

The blonde could only stare after him, not sure if that was a good thing or not.

0000

Noelle stretched her arms, looking up at the blue sky above her as she was finally able to go back to school after fifteen days of having to stay home. While going to school wasn't exactly her most favorite thing in the world, it was a whole lot better than being stuck in the apartment with Sarah trying to force feed her with what she called _food. _

She shivered at those memories.

While Noelle was incapable of cooking due to her magical touch of destruction, Sarah was just plain she-could-not-cook-even-if-her-life-depended-on-it. But apparently she wasn't capable of acknowledging that. Almost everyone was too scared to tell her and the few people who did tell her that everything she made was horrendous and inedible...

Well...

No one really wanted to get into that.

Feliciano was a really good cook but all he ever ate was pasta. The blonde loved his cooking and he could be a great italian chef if he desired it, but she was getting sick of having to eat the Italian specialty dish three meals a day.

So while she was scaring herself with thoughts of Sarah's food and Sarah forcing said food down her throat, she didn't see the person in front of her. Noelle still not paying attention to all of her surroundings had walked right into that person, sending them colliding into the pavement face first.

"Ah!" Noelle stumbled a few steps back and was about to immediately apologize when she saw who she had crashed into.

On the ground was a young man of about fifteen years with black curly short hair. He was wearing a cow print shirt, that revealed his bare chest with a black jacket over top.

"Yare, yare." The young man said as he stood up, brushing off his clothes. "Are you alright-"

He cut himself off when he finally got a good look at her. He stared at her before his lower lip trembled as he spoke.

"Noe-" He began stammering as if he couldn't believe his very eyes. "Noelle-nee? Is that you?" His voice sounded hoarse and... pained?

Noelle had instantly recognized the young man she had bumped into as Lambo from ten years into the future (his five year old self must have arrived when she was out sick) but since she hadn't met his five year old self in the present, it wasn't possible for her to know who he was.

Not yet anyways.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" She tilted her head to the side and gave her most innocent expression, feigning ignorance.

The teen looked at her with an expression of shock as well as extreme hurt, his eyes filling with tears that made Noelle step back with guilt and discomfort. Did she say something she shouldn't have? Maybe her words were too harsh since judging by his reaction towards her, she knew him or rather her future self did.

Noelle backed away, both incredulous and perplexed by the future Lightning Guardian's reaction to her. And even though she was surprised already by her coming across him before she had even gone to school that day, her surprise then upped to an eleven (out of ten) when he launched himself at her, wrapping his arms tightly across her waist and then started bawling into the shirt of her school uniform.

"What the-? Hey!" She exclaimed, attempting to push him off.

But teen Lambo was holding onto her tightly. His body shook, as if it was wracked by agonizing pain while he continued to sob into her shirt clutching onto her as if nothing would ever make him let go.

"Noelle-nee!" He whimpered pathetically, his words muffled by his burying his face into her shirt. He then looked up at her imploringly. "You don't recognize me?"

"I'm sorry, I really don't." She said, staring down into his watery green eyes. "Am I suppose to?"

The next look that he gave her made Noelle feel as if she had kicked several puppies. She knew who he was, but if she was going to play as someone who had no idea of what the future would bring them, she had to feign ignorance no matter how much she hated herself at that exact moment for making Lambo cry.

Teen Lambo chuckled weakly at seeing her discomfort. "I think I get it now. You must have not met me yet since you were sick when I first came to Japan." He paused. "I- I'm from the future. Ten years to be exact; my younger self must have used the Bovino Ten Year Bazooka."

"I see. That's right, this _is_ my first day going back to school since I came down with a fever." She said softly. "May I have the pleasure of you telling me your name then? The one who has leapt through time?"

She smiled at him, running her hand through his black curly hair and hoping that he would stop crying. She really didn't like it when people cried. Not to mention that her shirt was getting soaked the more he held on to her. But anyways, why was he crying like this when she meets his fifteen year old for the first time? With the way he was acting, it was almost as if in the future she was dea-

...That's right.

In the future, Noelle was no longer around. Her trial would have ended long before... around five to six years before the Ten Years Later Arc which no doubt was going to be very very awkward if her death was going to be brought up.

"It's Lambo. Lambo Bovino." He returned her smile, making Noelle feel relieved that he was no longer sobbing, though there were still a few sniffles. "You're as pretty as ever, Noelle-nee. Everyone misses you, but I-pin, me, Yukishiro-nee, Ayame-nee and Tsuna-nii more so." He paused. "Especially Tsuna-nii. Out of everyone else, he misses you the most."

"Nice to meet you then, Lambo." She was about to ask him about what he meant about the last part and who in the world Ayame was, but before she could do so he disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Closing her eyes, she coughed and waited for the smoke to dissipate. When she opened her eyes again after making sure it was safe, Teen Lambo was gone.

And in her lap, dressed up in a black and white cow print suit, was the five year old Lambo who was eating... purple ice cream.

"Bwa ha ha ha! The great Lambo has returned!" He declared loudly.

With a sigh she knew that would not be the first whenever it came to dealing with the rambunctious kid, Noelle grasped the five year old around his waist (oh how the tables have turned) lifting him up so that the child hitman was facing her.

"Hello Lambo," She said, smiling at him. "I'm Noelle Serra, it's nice to meet you."

0000

**_Ten years into the future..._**

_"It's about time," A man with silver hair snorted as he glared at the fifteen year old who had just returned from his venture in the past. __"Geez, you are such a pain even when you're older." _

_Just minutes before the Tenth generation Vongola Boss and his Guardians (with the exception of Hibari, but like that was anything new) were set to go out and eat after their successful most recent mission, pink smoke __had engulfed Lambo and everyone right there and then knew that they had to del__ay their dinner plans to keep a much more immature five year old in a cow suit occupied. _

_"Now, now." Said the Rain Guardian of the group, his trade mark sword strapped to his back. "He can't help it if his past self decides to use the Ten Year Bazooka." _

_The Storm Guardian growled at him, but didn't snap back at him. As usual, the swordsman had made a very good point. _

_"Lambo, what's wrong?" His boss- no, his nii-san- asked. He had noticed immediately that his Lightning Guardian had been crying even though he had discreetly tried to rub away his tears with the back of his hand not to mention that his eyes were red and puffy. _

_"N-nothing." The Lightning Guardian waved off the fact that he had been in tears in the first place. "Just lost to the Reborn of that time. Again." _

_But the Vongola Decimo wasn't buying it; not when his Hyper Intuition was telling him otherwise. _

_"Lambo..." _

_"Heh." __Lambo's eyes were hidden by his dark bangs. "Sorry. I should know by now that lying never works on you." _

_"So what was it that made you cry, stupid cow?" The Storm Guardian growled, outraged that he would even try to lie to their boss. _

_"I just saw someone I thought that I would never see again." He saw Vongola Decimo pale and he nodded, giving him a sad smile. "I saw Noelle-nee. She hadn't met my younger self yet, but she was just as nice to me as she had always been." His eyes glazed over and a small smile formed on his face as he recalled those last moments before he was propelled into the future again.  
><em>

_Silence engulfed the room completely as no one knew what to say. Not even the boisterous Sun Guardian who was always shouting 'Extreme!' could bring himself to talk. _

_Any discussion of the Serafin who had been with them since the start was a very delicate subject. Especially around the Decimo.  
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_"Should we go out to eat now since Lambo's come back?" Vongola Decimo broke the silence with a smile, still slightly pale. But everyone could tell that the smile on his face was forced and just for their sakes. They could also see the pain in his caramel eyes before he turned around and exited Vongola Headquarters. His Guardians followed after their boss, lost in their own nostalgic memories._

_But Vongola Decimo was the one who thought the most about the girl who had helped him up off the floor that first day of middle school.  
><em>

_Even five years later his heart still ached whenever he thought about his former Guardian Angel. _

_Even five years later he still missed her. _

_Even five years later he still loved her. _

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><p><strong>And I am done! Man, the ending's a bit sappy but aren't all love stories sappy in a way. And yes, we all have our gentle sides. That side of Noelle just shows up whenever she's encouraging someone or trying to make them feel better; which is the latter in Lambo's case. So basically, she's tough to the point of being tom boyish, cheerful to the point of not being annoying as well as being realistic and gentle when she wants to be (something that she was towards her friend Madison in her former life). <strong>

**Signori - I think this means 'ladies' in Italian. I'm not sure since I used an online translator for it and we all know how useful those are.  
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**Anyways, yeah, you can tell that this is an eventual TsunaxOC story that I plan on making as realistic as possible. Which means no instant couples. It takes place over the years gradually.**

**By the way 'Noe' is pretty much pronounced the same as 'Zoe' but with the 'N' sound of course!**

**Also, don't forget to review! I want you to tell me what you think!  
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	11. Sasagawa Ryohei

**I'm not going to bother saying much right now since I really have no idea what to say. Just feel like typing... oh... except that Noelle officially meets up with Ryohei Sasagawa, the older brother of Kyoko!**

**And ooh, I have another possible theme for Noelle. You know what? Why don't I set up a poll and you readers decide what her theme could be? You'd probably be able to decide better than I would since I don't exactly have a one-track mind.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own the KHR franchise. I do, however, own Noelle and the Serafin.**

* * *

><p><strong>Sasagawa Ryohei<strong>

Without even having to look at the figure causing the dust clouds to pick up the in the distance, Noelle already knew who it was. Racing towards her at speed that would make him the envy of Olympic athletes was Tsuna in a pair of bright red boxers.

But instead of pushing herself to the side to avoid getting run over, she stood her ground this time.

"Good morning, Tsuna. Nice to see you at school bright and early!" She said as he gradually came to a stop right in front of her. It was still unnerving to see his crazed determination gaze in Dying Will Mode, especially face to face, but she was getting used to it.

After all he wasn't going to stay that way for very long. She would get to see him soon enough in his Hyper Dying Will Mode which was something she looked forward to.

Once the effects of his Dying Will Mode had died down, Tsuna let out a sigh of relief. "I guess I made it in time."

"Yes, you did Tsuna." The startled brunet looked up to see Noelle smiling at him. She then pointed downwards. "But you're somewhat under dressed."

Tsuna's face flushed as red as his boxers as Noelle giggled at him. By now, he knew that the blonde wasn't laughing at him but there were still times she couldn't help it, even if she didn't mean it in a malicious way. And people were starting to get used to the sight of him racing down the streets in his underwear. But it was still pretty embarrassing as his classmates still made fun of for it and people he didn't know were giving him strange looks whenever he was walking around town; though not for long because Gokudera would then catch on and growl at the people who would, they valued their good health, look away immediately.

"I-I," He stammered. He could hear the other students around them whispering and giggling to each other, no doubt amusing themselves with the sight of the school exhibitionist.

"Don't worry. I know Reborn was at fault for this. Again." She peered over his shoulder to look at something that was behind him. "Though I wonder if he's alright?"

"Eh?" Tsuna looked down to see what Noelle was staring at only to flinch in alarm.

Lying on the ground and holding onto his arm was a dark skinned, silver haired boy. There was a bandage over his nose and both his arms were wrapped in bandages. His eyes were closed, making Tsuna fearfully wonder if he had hurt him badly or worse; killed him.

Much to his relief, the boy spoke up. "It's definitely real."

Sitting up the boy brought his knees up to his chest and did several backward rolls until he was kneeling in front of Tsuna.

Noelle quickly moved to the side, curious about the newcomer even though she already knew who he was. Ryohei Sasagawa, captain of the boxing club and the older brother of Tsuna's love interest, Sasagawa Kyoko.

"Are you alright?" Tsuna asked. The boy looked fine but appearances could be deceiving.

"You have more power, stamina, and passion than I had expected!" He smirked. "One of your ability comes only every hundred years!"

"Hear that Tsuna?" A small smirk formed on Noelle's face. "You're a hundred year rarity!"

"N-Noelle-san!" Tsuna yelped but then quickly clamped a hand over his mouth when he saw the look of surprise cross over her face. He had inadvertently called her by her first name.

"What did you call me?" She asked, face blank.

"Um, Noelle-san?"

She broke out into a smile.

"Yay, you finally called me by my first name!" She clapped her hands together. "Now if I could only get you to drop the '-san' part and call me '-chan' instead."

_Eh? _She hadn't mind when he addressed her by her first name? But most people would get offended by being addressed so casually; but that might have something to do with the fact that she wasn't from Japan...

Tsuna was startled out of his thoughts as the other boy stood up and placed his bandage covered arms on Tsuna's shoulders. "Join our boxing club, Sawada Tsuna!"

"Huh? How do you know my name?" Tsuna asked, a little freaked out by how the boy had just easily approached him.

The boy, most likely a senpai, then proceeded to list off Tsuna's accomplishments of his defeating the captain of the Kendo club Mochida as well as winning the volleyball game. At the mention of Tsuna winning the class volleyball game due to using his, er, a 'man's most important organ', Noelle turned towards the wall and broke out into a fit of laughter as she quickly fell onto her knees and started pounding her fists against the school entrance wall when she could no longer contain her laughter.

By the time she regained her composure albeit still giggling, Noelle spotted Kyoko running towards them clutching onto a dark blue school bag.

"Onii-chan!" She said, running up to them.

The older boy glanced over Tsuna. "What is it Kyoko?"

Seeing Tsuna's face light up, Noelle stifled a giggle and pat him on the shoulder.

"Lucky you." She whispered, nudging him. "You get to see Kyoko-chan first thing in the morning!"

His face turned bright red and Noelle smiled, ruffling his hair. Geez, he was absolutely adorable like that but there were just some times when he needed a good shove.

"Kyoko?" Tsuna looked confused. "It's like he's known her for a while."

"He has." Noelle said softly as so that the older boy wouldn't hear them.

His head snapped at her, looking startled at the fact that he might have some competition for the school idol's heart. But Noelle shook her head and smiled at him reassuringly.

"It's nothing to worry about. You'll see." In about a minute, the boxer was going to introduce himself to the 'EXTREME' like he always did.

"You left your bag on the street." Kyoko presented the bag to the boy.

"Oops. Sorry, sorry." He said, taking the bag from her.

"Oh, good morning Tsuna-kun. Noelle-chan." Kyoko said when she noticed her classmates standing there. Tsuna stammered out a hello while Noelle waved back.

"Good Morning, Kyoko-chan." She said, returning the girl's greeting. She then turned and placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder, quickly whispering to him, "I'll give the two of you some time alone." She released her hand and winked at him. "Have fun!"

She walked into the school, smiling to herself as she listened to Ryohei loudly introduce himself in the extreme way he always did.

0000

"Um, Noelle-san?" The blonde turned around to see Tsuna standing behind her. He seemed nervous about something.

His shoulders were hunched over and he was fidgeting with his fingers, his eyes moving all over the room and his gaze focusing on everything around their classroom except her. Noelle waited for a few seconds, giving him a chance to speak up on his own before deciding that she needed to speak up so that he'd say something.

"Yes, Tsuna?"

He looked up at her startled before averting his gaze to the side looking embarrassed, which confused her for a second until she realized that she forgot the suffix she was supposed to add to the end of his name.

"Oops. I mean Tsuna-kun. Sorry about that."

"I-it's fine." But he still wasn't looking at her. "I was wondering if you'd come to the boxing club with me?"

Ah, so Ryohei did practically force Tsuna into boxing with him that afternoon. And with the way he was glancing at her hopefully, how could she refuse? Unable to help herself due to his looking absolutely adorable at that exact moment, she ruffled his hair again.

"Sure! I don't have any clubs after school and I'm pretty much free on most days anyways, so why not?"

"Thanks, Noelle-san!" He looked relieved, like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

"But there's one thing we have to fix before we go," Noelle said, turning around and placing her hands on her hips in mock annoyance.

"Wh-what is it?" Tsuna asked.

"You don't have to address me so formally." She wagged a finger in his face and Tsuna stared at her flabbergasted by her 'scolding'. "I would prefer it if you just called me by my first name only."

Tsuna's face reddened. "B-but, that's-" He stammered.

Noelle shook her head with a sigh before smiling at him. "But I understand that we have quite a few culture differences between us. So just call me Noelle-chan, alright?"

"But is that okay?" Tsuna asked.

"Of course it is. We're friends, right?" Noelle looked at Tsuna for confirmation.

"Y-yeah!" Tsuna nodded.

And so after getting their stuff, they headed to the back of the school to where the boxing club was located.

When Noelle agreed to go with Tsuna, he looked confident. But as they got closer and closer to where the club was, the brunet's confidence had begun deflating and by the time that they got there, Tsuna looked as if he was going to run away.

"I can't do this." He moaned. There's no way that I can box."

The two of them were standing right in front of the boxing club, right in front of the door. Tsuna's hand was raised, prepared to knock on the door. His mind was divided between running away or knocking on the door and telling Kyoko's older brother that he was not going to join the boxing club. But if this morning was anything to go by, Tsuna had a feeling that saying 'no' was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"Well, why don't you say no then?" Noelle asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Easier said than done." Tsuna muttered with his head hung, looking depressed.

Before she could ask if he was going to be alright, the metal door slid open and Ryohei came out to greet them.

"I've been waiting for you, Sawada and, uh..." He stared at Noelle questioningly.

"Serra, Noelle." She sighed. "But my first name is Noelle."

Honestly, why in the world did the Serafin have to give her the alias of 'Serra'? Like Noelle, it was also a name but that made it confusing to differentiate between what was her last name and what was her first.

"I'll call you Noelle-chan!"

_You familiarized yourself with me/her that fast? _Were the unified thoughts of Noelle and Tsuna going through their heads as they gaped at him. But neither of them got a word in otherwise as Ryohei grabbed them by the arms and yanked them both inside, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, um, it's just that I can't-" Tsuna got cut off by someone whistling, directing his attention to the source of the noise.

Standing across from them were Bianchi, Haru, Yamamoto, I-pin and Lambo. And if they didn't know any better, they would have to say they were in some sort of group pose.

Noelle had already met Bianchi and I-pin when she went over to Tsuna's house the other day so that they could do their homework together. Nothing too eventful happened save for the fact that Reborn had Tsuna at gun point and was threatening to shoot him if _either _of them got any of the questions wrong.

"We've been waiting for you, Tsuna!" Yamamoto grinned. He then noticed Noelle there as well. "Noelle-chan, you came too?"

"Yup!" She nodded. "Tsuna asked me to come along with him!"

And next thing she knew Haru was right in front of Noelle's face, squinting at her. That's right; the sometimes third-speaking girl was right _in front of her._ Startled, the blonde stepped back, wide eyed at the girl's sudden action. She hadn't met Haru yet and she knew that the girl could be pretty random and unpredictable at times, but going right up to her face wasn't something Noelle had been expecting at all. Especially during their first meeting with each other.

"Tsuna-san!" Haru whirled around so that she was now glaring at the poor boy who was just as startled as Noelle. "How could you cheat on me?"

"WHAT?" Both Tsuna and Noelle screamed in unison at the completely unfounded accusation.

"I wanted to see Tsuna-san win, so I came here at mach speed after school!" Haru sniffled, eyes beginning to fill with tears. "But I come here to find that you're going out with another girl!"

"We're just friends!" Tsuna shouted at the same time that Noelle yelled, "We're not going out!"

The two of them paled instantly and their heart rates sped up when they felt a dangerous energy emanating off of from a certain poison cooking assassin. They both turned to see Bianchi, eyes hidden by her bangs, holding two pans of purple... something.

Noelle could feel her stomach churning. Oh god, not only did the stuff look poisonous it also felt poisonous and she was standing a few feet away from the vile looking stuff too.

"Unforgivable," Bianchi said in a low voice. Her anger was radiating off in waves, making everyone, even Yamamoto, inch away from her. "Unforgivable..."

Her head then shot up and the deranged look in her eyes gave off the impression of her being an insane mental asylum patient. "CHEATING IS UNFORGIVABLE!"

And for some reason, she launched both of her poisonous cooking weapons at _Tsuna. _

His Guardian Angel quickly glanced at the frozen in place brunet who was staring at the incoming missiles with growing horror. He was as white as a sheet and didn't seem capable of any incoherent thought at that moment, much less the capability of dodging.

"Tsuna, look out!" Noelle yelled as she launched herself at him, knocking the two of them to the ground. She felt the poison cooking splatter onto her clothes, but just shifted her body around so that Bianchi's poison cooking wouldn't touch Tsuna at all considering she wasn't sure if the food could poison through physical contact.

The substance stung her skin and she could see smoke coming from where it hit her clothes, but other than that it didn't hurt at all. Some of it also got into her mouth and while it wasn't poisoning her, it made her gag. The poison cooking didn't taste like anything that would be poisonous (not that she knew what poison would even taste like) but it was still _disgusting._

"Impossible!" Bianchi stepped back, eyes wide with shock when Noelle turned to glare at her. "You're alive?"

"Did you just arbitrary kill me off?" The blonde asked in disbelief.

"But no one's survived my poison cooking except for Hayato!"

_'Until now,' _Noelle said in her head. She lifted herself up and looked down to see Tsuna out cold, his face bright red and blood trickling out of his nose. _  
><em>

Honestly, if Tsuna was going to just pass out because a girl knocked him over he was going to have a lot of work cut out for him if he was ever going to work up the nerve to ask Kyoko out on a date because that was just kind of... sad.

"Noelle-chan." Yamamoto said, getting her attention. "You have blood on your shirt!"

The blonde looked down to indeed see that not only was she covered in purple substance, but the white shirt area around her chest was soaked in red as well.

_...oh. _

That would explain why Tsuna had fainted.

0000

"You don't have to come with me." Noelle told Bianchi for what had to be the tenth time. But no matter how much she tried to deter the woman from walking with her to the school so she could get an extra uniform, the assassin insisted that she come along so that she could see her younger brother in the nurse's office.

Bianchi was a lot more prettier in person rather than when you were watching or reading about her character. It was amazing how the people she was familiar with both embraced their fictional appearance all the while looking realistic. In fact, Noelle looked in the mirror several times in the Serafin mansion as she was growing up over the years and saw that she had taken on a sort of... anime like appearance.

It was both fascinating and unnerving at the same time.

"Nonsense." Bianchi waved her off. "I want to see if Hayato is recovering well."

_'I'm sure he's fine.' _Noelle thought to herself, imagining a sweat drop appearing behind her head. '_But he won't be once you come in,' _

Thankfully no one was in the halls this late after school so she didn't have people gaping at her purple blood stained shirt. She stared down at it, wondering if there was anyway to salvage it but with some of the fabric corroded and the blood making it look like she had murdered someone, her shirt was pretty much gone.

When they made it to the nurse's office, Bianchi promptly slid the door open. "Hayato!"

Noelle winced at the strangled gurgling sound that came from one of the beds, figuring that's where the Hurricane Bomber was. She definitely owed Gokudera an apology later but she hoped he could endure for a bit while she went to get changed.

"Hayato! You look even worse than you did before." There was a pause. "I have no choice but to watch over you then."

Noelle winced again. Oh yes, she definitely owed the boy after this.

"That's not necessary Bianchi-san." Noelle said as she put on the new white shirt that the nurse had gotten for her, albeit looking a bit sick even when she had explained that the bloodstain was from a nosebleed. "He'll still be here once Tsuna and Ryohei's match is over and I'm sure he'd like some time to himself."

"No. I'll stay with my brother."

With Gokudera shooting her desperate looks that clearly said to do something about his sister, Noelle had to come up with another excuse to try and get the poison cooking user to leave.

"Actually, it's probably best that he be alone so he can recover better." Noelle bit her lip, looking out the window as she urged her mind to come up with something fast. That was when she saw the white and dark blue uniforms of the karate members heading towards the building she and Bianchi had been in just minutes ago. "Huh... I thought the karate club and boxing club were enemies."

"Th-they are." Gokudera managed to say, his eyes squeezed shut so that he wouldn't have to see his sister's face. "Wh-what of it?"

"They're walking towards the boxing club building." She got two blank stares. "Which is where Tsuna and Reborn are."

Needless to say, those two names worked their magic as Bianchi immediately dashed off with a still recovering Gokudera right behind her. Noelle easily caught up to them and the three of them were racing to where a great battle over Kyoko was about to start.

"Reborn!" Bianchi pulled the door open, running towards the baby hitman to make sure that he was alright. She didn't even notice that she had knocked down one of the karate members in her worry for the love of her life.

To add insult to injury to the nameless guy, Gokudera stepped over top of him while Noelle decided to be merciful and step around the poor student.

"Bianchi." Reborn nodded curtly at the woman.

"Gokudera." Yamamoto blinked at the appearance of the silver haired boy who was using the door way as support, still clutching his mid-section.

"Noelle." Hana said, arms folded over her chest.

"If it's for the Tenth," Gokudera grimaced. "I won't care if my sister is here!"

Bianchi turned to the baby, "What do we do, Reborn?"

Still dressed in his Elder Pao Pao guise, he said, "Well, just fight them as you wish."

And at those exact words, it turned into an all out brawl. The Karate Club versus three of Tsuna's future Guardians, Bianchi, I-pin and Noelle.

Reaching into her school bag, the blonde grabbed the Fortissirum baton disguised staff and activated it. The ends of the pole extended, revealing her weapon's true form which she promptly used to whack a karate member in the stomach who was sneaking up on Yamamoto. Even though the boy's arm had been out of the cast for a few days, Noelle didn't want to risk any more damage to her friend's arm.

"Thanks Noelle!" Yamamoto gave her a thumbs up.

"No problem!" She said as she ducked and quickly took down another boy with a round about house kick that sent him crashing into a wall, knocking him out instantly. She winced; oops, used a little too much strength on that one.

Noelle mostly ended up using her staff to fend off any on coming fighters. There was very little chance she was going to be charged with a law suit if her inhuman strength were to break something, but she preferred to avoid using her fists unless the person she was attacking was someone who was either trying to kill her (heh) or someone who had pissed her off or she just hated.

In a matter of minutes, the floor was covered with the defeated members of the karate club as Team (Tsuna, Reborn, Vongola?) stood over them victorious.

"Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna climbed over the boxing ring ropes to chase over the junior high karate club captain after he had rudely grabbed Kyoko by the arm and tried to make a break for it.

"Tsuna-kun!" She shouted over her shoulder.

It was over within seconds.

"I won't let you get in the way!" The Namimori Middle Karate captain declared as he charged at Tsuna after roughly pushing Kyoko to the side with his boxing glove fist raised to send the boy flying.

"Counter it, Tsuna." Reborn said in his squeaky little voice as his pupil just stood there with his eyes clenched shut, waiting for the inevitable pain.

To almost everyone's surprise (with the exception of Reborn, Gokudera and Noelle), the boy not only launched his own punch but was able to avoid the one that his opponent had thrown at him by a hair's breadth away.

"He did it!" Gokudera said, his voice still strained from not only his sister being in the room but also because he decided to take on several people while he was still recovering. "As expected from the Tenth!"

_He'd probably say the same thing if Tsuna decides to sprout wings and fly, _Noelle thought as the corners of her lips twitched at the image. But she kept that to herself; there would be plenty of times to tease Gokudera and his tendencies to act like a love sick puppy around the Vongola Decimo.

"Tsuna-san, you're amazing!" Haru called from the side lines where the non-fighters were, her hands cupped around the sides of her mouth. "A super dangerous punch filled with love for Haru!" She struck some sort of fighting pose at the end of that sentence.

Tsuna wasn't the only one who gave the girl from Midori Middle a look of complete disbelief. Gokudera, Hana and Noelle were giving her strange looks of their own.

"Don't make it so meaningful!" Tsuna shouted back at her in exasperation.

0000

"The unity of the family became stronger." Reborn told Tsuna, now dressed in his normal black fedora and suit. Now that the fighting was over, everyone had gathered around the back of the room, watching the conversation between student and teacher.

Already knowing what they were going to be talking about, Noelle tuned out most of the conversation as she looked around the room. The Karate club was still sprawled out all over the place and yet no one else but her seemed concerned about this.

Gokudera sat furthest from the group with his back turned to them. Now that the danger towards Tsuna had been averted, his being in the same general area as his sister had finally caught up with him because he was clutching his mid-section and was looking a little green.

"Noelle-chan!" She turned her head to see Ryohei grinning at her. "I've heard you're strong and your fighting style today was extreme! Join the boxing club! You'll be first girl to be on the boxing team if you do!"

Noelle stared at him.

Oh geez.

* * *

><p><strong>A bit more light hearted compared to the other chapter and not absolutely relevant to the plot but with this, I was able to introduce several characters that Noelle hadn't formally met yet such as Ryohei, Bianchi, and Haru. Not to mention show off some of Noelle's fighting skills even if I didn't really describe the fight at all (cause it's not really an important one). <strong>

**And it would so like be Haru to accuse Tsuna of going out with Noelle when the two walk into the room at the same time.**

**Anyways, I'll be working on the next chapter but since I don't have a definite plan on how it will go, it might take a while for me to work on it. Probably five days, but well within my updating limit.**

**Remember to leave reviews! I know I have a lot of reviewers out there with this story on their alert list!  
><strong>


	12. Rival

**Wow, I can see we have quite a few people here who don't like Haru out there. And while she isn't exactly my favorite character either, Haru will play the same role she did in the anime. Otherwise I'd be screwing with the KHR time line as we know it a lot. And while there are changes here and there, I don't want to completely throw things off. **

**Though I guess I can't really blame you. I'm currently watching episode 84 of the future arc and right now I'm going, "Seriously Kyoko and Haru, what good are you two other than balancing out the male portion of the cast?". Even though they were told that the future was a particularly dangerous place for them, Kyoko still goes out to look for her brother. And then Haru decides to go out and bring I-pin to the doctor. I can understand the concern when I-pin is sick, but come on! Haru, if Kyoko barely made it there thanks to the future Hana, what makes you think that YOU would be able to fare out there better? **

**Okay, spoiler guys. When we get to the Future Arc, expect some character roles switching. Because like hell Noelle's going to let Haru go out there and endanger herself and trust me, she knows what Haru is about to do. **

**End of rant.  
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**This Chapter is a bit of a filler starring mostly Noelle, but I think a lot of you would like the ending. Or probably hate me for typing it out. It's your choice.  
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**But don't worry, I have plans for Haru that you would like (and no, she does not die a slow painful death). **

**Oh, and I have a poll up for possible Noelle theme songs. Geez, I must be really bored if I come up with stuff like this.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle and the Serafin. Oh, and the OC character I introduce here. Hope you like her!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Rival<strong>

Lately Noelle had the feeling that she was being watched.

She would have easily brushed the feeling off, but the Serafin had taught her that if she had a gut feeling that something was off, she should listen to that gut feeling. Listening to your instincts could make all the difference of you being alive or dead within the next few minutes, especially in the harsh mafia world.

That feeling was soon enough confirmed when one day after school a slightly cowed student from another class told her that a girl from Midori Middle was standing by the school gate asking for her. At first, the blonde thought it was Haru come to tell her to stay away from Tsuna since she was going to be his self-proclaimed future wife. But as clingy as Haru was, Noelle couldn't imagine her pulling off a 'back off bitch, he's mine' move that she had seen often on television and in her former life.

But when she got to the gate, she didn't find Haru but another girl waiting for her.

The girl had dark green hair that bordered on being black and dark blue eyes. Already in junior high one could see that she was pretty and her beauty would grow even more as she got older. Students who were leaving school for the day stared at her as she walked by, wondering what someone from the high ranked girls private middle school was doing at Namimori.

"Are you the one who called me?" Noelle asked suspiciously as she examined the girl from head to toe. She didn't recognize her at all.

The Midori Middle School student held herself in a sort of tough girl fashion with her arms folded over her chest and her eyes staring blankly at nothing in particular except maybe the other side of the school gate. After Noelle spoke, the girl turned towards her and examined her with eyes that would have intimidated most people.

"Yes." She stood up straight and turned to face her properly and broke out into a smile. "You know, I just told a student to tell a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that I was waiting for her. I didn't know it would be that easy to get you."

"Exactly how many people do you know have _blonde _hair?" Noelle asked, folding her own arms across her chest. They were in _Japan _where most people had black hair; though that was the Japan of her world. In the KHR verse, they had an assortment of different hair colours such as brown (Tsuna), orange (Kyoko) and silver (Gokudera and Ryohei).

But surprisingly, having blonde hair combined with light coloured eyes in Japan instantly identified you as being a foreigner. Or someone with foreign blood running through their veins.

"Quite a few actually but they dyed their hair."

"Fair enough."

Silence settled in between the two of them as the girl didn't say anything else while Noelle wondered why she had been called out here in the first place.

"So want to get something to eat?" The girl asked.

Noelle gave her an incredulous look; the girl hadn't introduce herself and the fact that she had identified Noelle purely by her school uniform as well as her hair and eye colour indicated that she hadn't know Noelle's name either. She was a complete stranger and even five year olds knew better than to walk off with an adult they didn't know or their parents.

But in Noelle's case she was a thirteen formerly eighteen year old who could take care of herself well enough. And there would be hell to pay if she wasn't able to hold herself against a normal civilian, not that it had been a problem before.

"Mind telling me your name first?"

"Oh, of course." The girl actually looked surprised. "I didn't tell you, did I?"

"No."

"It's Kiyomizu Ayame."

Noelle's eyes widened. 'Ayame'. That was one of the two names that the future Lambo she had met weeks ago mentioned that she hadn't recognized.

_"Everyone misses you, but I-pin, me, Yukishiro-nee, **Ayame-nee** and Tsuna-nii more so." _

Could the girl in front of her be the Ayame that he was talking about? She didn't recognize the name Yukishiro either, but Noelle assumed she wouldn't meet her until later.

"How about your name?" The girl now known as Ayame prompted. "Isn't it formality that I know yours as well or are westerners really as rude as television depicts them to be?"

"It's Serra Noelle; eastern pronunciation."

0000

"Is that cake good?" Ayame asked as Noelle shoveled her second piece of cake into her mouth.

Noelle didn't answer as she was too busy eating even more cake. The place that Ayame took her to was the very same place that Kyoko and Haru went to monthly for their 'self-appreciation' day. But instead of just eating one slice of cake, the blonde preferred to eat as much as she could stomach. And being deprived from decent desserts for a while made her want to eat all the pastries on display.

"You're going to get fat." Her companion said observantly.

"No worries there."

One of the good things with being a Serafin was that it was practically impossible to be over weight. Not just because she was forced to go through training that came straight from hell itself, but also because their body metabolism functioned differently.

Though that didn't mean she could sit around and eat nothing but cake and chocolate all day because her fighting skills would get rusty if she didn't use them often.

But even when she was stuffing her face full, Noelle kept an eye on Ayame still wondering why the girl had asked her out in the first place.

Ayame sipped the tea in her cup daintily before setting the cup down and looking Noelle straight in the eye.

"I suppose you would want to know why I asked for you after school?"

Noelle stared back. "Um, yes."

0000

The following morning, Noelle limped into her classroom ignoring the jolts of pain than ran up through her left leg as she made her way to her desk. She ignored the stares as she dropped her bag onto the ground and slumped down on top of her desk. She didn't want to go to school that day, but when she had missed those two weeks thanks to her fever, catching up had been pure torture.

Even more so when Reborn had decided to be generous and help her out.

"What happened to you?" Gokudera asked, staring at her. "Don't tell me you got into a fight?" He snorted.

Noelle closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them up again and lifting her head so that she was gazing in the Hurricane Bomber's direction. "I guess you can say that." When she tried to move her arm, she grimaced.

_'Ow,' _Noelle thought as she moved her arm again so that it was in a more comfortable position._ 'She wasn't kidding when she said that she wasn't going to hold back at all.' _

She gritted her teeth as she remembered the events of yesterday.

_"Kyoya-kun told me all about you." Ayame said after Noelle had confirmed that she wanted answers._

_The blonde stared at the girl in disbelief. There was only one Kyoya in the school she knew of and he was often seen patrolling the school hallways looking for potential trouble makers who would have the idiocy of causing trouble within the heart of his territory. After seeing the prefect beat down a careless first year who hadn't thrown away the gum he had been chewing on properly (not to mention that gum wasn't allowed on school grounds), Noelle was fully convinced that Hibari was a little too obsessed with the school. _

_Which was what had probably led to her challenging him to a fight. _

_A fight that she lost fifteen minutes later due to the fact that he was the most brutal opponent she had come across in her both her first and second life. He was as physically strong as her; maybe even stronger not to mention that he had gone up against opponents who were intent on hurting him, possibly killing him for years. For Noelle, Hibari was the only person to fight her with no intent on holding back at all despite gender differences. _

_To the raven haired boy, Noelle was just another opponent to beat black and blue. _

_Something he nearly did had it not been for his second-in-command, Kusakabe, reminding him about the patrolling he was supposed to do by the mall. And while grateful for the distraction, Noelle could only gape. So not only did he patrol the entire school, but the town as well? And were his antics towards those who went around breaking the rules in the school the same as outside the school? _

_Probably. _

_But there was one thing that bothered her: how in the world had he not been arrested yet?_

_"He did, did he?" Noelle said. "Is this Hibari Kyoya we're talking about?" _

_"The one and only." Ayame smirked._

_"So what's your connection with him anyways?" Noelle asked as she reached for the glass of water a waitress had set down."I was under the impression that he hated 'crowding'." _

_"Oh, he just tolerates me because we're childhood friends." _

_Noelle choked on her drink as the water went down the wrong pipe. _

_"Childhood friends?" Her eyes were wide with disbelief. "That guy has _childhood _friends?" _

_"Just one, which is me." Ayame smiled. "And he told me you were a pretty strong herbivore. What do you say to a friendly spar after the food digests?"  
><em>

_And it turned out that Ayame loved fights as much as Hibari did, though thankfully without the intent to badly hurt someone in the process. Noelle should have pretty much figured that her opponent standing right across from her from on the river bank would be as good a fighter as the prefect was. She had lost count of the times that she had been sent flying, kicked at and punched. Ayame hadn't been granted super strength (thank the heavens), but Noelle could instantly tell she was well-versed in martial arts. She executed several moves that Sarah had used on Noelle during their training flawlessly and she was fast too._

_Not to say that Noelle wasn't able to hold her own against her opponent. If there was any time that she was glad for Sarah and Feliciano's training, it would be now. Most people, even those practicing martial arts, would have been taken down within seconds. But Noelle was able to throw in her own punches that connected with the other girl several times and much to her satisfaction, Ayame wasn't able to easily shake it off._

_As blows were exchanged with the other intent on not losing, they didn't realize that they had been fighting for hours until the sun began to set. _

_"I... win..." Noelle said, slightly breathless as she placed her foot on top of the fallen Ayame._

_While the green haired was heaving for air on the ground, the blonde seemed better off though she was pretty exhausted. _

_"Hah, herbivore?" Noelle's defeated opponent said as she rolled over onto her side. With a grimace, she forced herself to sit up. "I think Kyoya-kun might have underestimated you. Did you hold back on him?" _

_Noelle contemplated the question. When she had doomed herself that school day, a flurry of things had been running through her head. One of them was that she had gone and challenged _Hibari_, demon prefect of Namimori, to a fight. And even when she had her staff with her that day, Hibari knew how to counter all the attacks she tried to land on him with his tonfas. And she was more focused on blocking his attacks rather than landing any on him. _

_Alright, so she did have a lot of things on her mind but that didn't mean she had tried her best.  
><em>

_"I... don't think so." _

_"I think you did." Ayame snorted. "I've fought Kyoya quite a few times and I can hold my own against for more than fifteen minutes." _

_Was lasting fifteen minutes against the guy really that bad? From what she had seen in the anime, Hibari had defeated the Varia Cloud Guardian within, like, three seconds. Three! And Gola Mosca was supposed to be an incredibly strong military weapon._

_"He said you had a staff that day but you fought me bare-handed." A pause. "Ditch the weapon, you're better off without it."_

And that was the last thing Ayame had said to her before Noelle had walked off. Sore, but she was still able to move. Her opponent would be in good hands (at least she hoped that would be the case) as she saw Hibari standing on the bridge watching their fight with arms folded across his chest. How long he had been standing there, she didn't care. She just hoped he had the decency to help Ayame get back to her house because Noelle was exhausted and she still had homework to do.

"HIIE!" Tsuna's trademark shriek brought Noelle back to reality. "Noelle-chan, what happened to you?"

Noelle stared at the boy through half-lidded eyes. "Fought someone."

Tsuna looked panic stricken, looking her up and down with frightened eyes. He couldn't believe anyone was able to hurt Noelle so badly; he hadn't really seen her fight before, but she wasn't someone who could be taken down by just anyone.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Noelle immediately waved off his worries. "I'm fine. Just fought a really strong opponent."

Strong would probably be an understatement. Ayame was practically a female Hibari except without the blood lust, the school obsession and the need to beat up every person she came across. From what Noelle had gathered in the short conversation with her, she didn't just fight anyone. She fought people who were considerably strong themselves.

"It's amazing that you haven't been expelled yet." Hana sighed, having come over when Tsuna exclaimed loudly about what happened to the blonde.

"Noelle-chan, did you get into a fight?" Kyoko had come over as well, making Tsuna blush. The school idol was looking at Noelle with concern, her golden eyes looking at the bandages that were were wrapped around Noelle's upper right leg and left arm.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Noelle sighed, trying to get the others to stop worrying.

From the looks she was getting, they didn't believe her. Not that it was anything new.

"Okay, some really strong girl decided to challenge me to a fight." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Really strong girl?" Hana asked and the blonde nodded. "Are you talking about Kiyomizu Ayame from Midori?"

"Ayame-chan?" Kyoko blinked at Hana.

"Yeah, you know her?" Now everyone was staring at the dark haired girl.

"We used to go to the same elementary school, even though she was a few years older than us." Hana explained. She looked Noelle over. "Well, that explains everything. She could always beat up the older boys and didn't hesitate going up against girls either. In fact," There was a pause. "You two are pretty similar."

Noelle would have liked to argue that point but when she opened her mouth, no words came out to defend herself.

0000

"So you met the head of the Cavallone famiglia?" Noelle asked as she and the others sat up on the roof. Since she didn't often go to Tsuna's house, she realized that there were some plot points she was going to miss. One of them was Dino going over to see the future Vongola Decimo for the first time. "And then you had to chase after some perverted Italian doctor so that he would cure your Skull's disease?"

Perverted Italian doctor. That meant Shamal was finally here which in turn meant that Noelle was going to have to avoid the nurse's office if she wanted to avoid being hit on.

It was lunch time and Yamamoto had asked Noelle if she wanted to eat with them before grabbing her by the arm and dragging her up the stairs, not really giving her a choice in the matter.

"Y-yeah."

"I heard the Cavallone head was extremely clumsy without his subordinates around." Knowing was one thing; witnessing the events was a whole other story.

"Hey stupid blonde, why are you pestering the Tenth about trivial things?"

_WHACK! _

A few seconds later, Yamamoto broke out into laughter and Tsuna stared at Gokudera in horror as the blonde lifted her weapon from the boy's face. Not bothering to look at him, Noelle had brought out her staff, extended the ends of it and then promptly brought it down on the silver haired boy's head.

"What the hell, woman?" Gokudera retorted, dynamite in between his fingers ready to throw at her as Tsuna panicked and tried to calm the boy down.

"It's not trivial." Noelle rolled her eyes before glaring at him. "And I think I've told you before not to call me that!"

"I'll call you whatever I want. _Stupid blond-_"

_WHACK!_

"Stop that!"

"Make me!"

"Ha ha! You two are such good friends!"

"HIIEE! Yamamoto, you're not helping!"

"Wow, this looks really fun!" A second female voice interrupted what was about to turn into a brawl of fists and dynamite.

Everyone froze; especially Noelle.

Oh god. It couldn't be.

No.

Life could not be crueler to her than it had already been. But Noelle turned her head to see the green haired form of Ayame standing by the door way that lead down to the school.

"It's you." Noelle said flatly. "What are you doing here?"

"I decided to drop in for a visit! See how you were doing and to bother Kyoya-kun while I was at it."

"Eh?" Tsuna's head was swiveling between the two girls as he stared at them. "Noelle-chan, you know who this person is?"

"I'm Kiyomizu Ayame!" The girl introduced herself before Noelle could say anything. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Kiyomizu Ayame?" Tsuna blinked then looked at Noelle who nodded at him.

"Is she the one you fought?" Yamamoto asked and the blonde nodded again. "She doesn't seem so bad."

"That's because you weren't the one fighting her."

The school roof door slammed open to reveal Hibari, who did not look happy at all about something. By the direction of his gaze, Noelle could only guess too well about what he was not happy about. The object of his ire did not seem at all phased about the glare that had most people, teachers and students alike, quaking in their shoes.

"Hi, Kyoya-chan!"

The suffix that Ayame had added at the end of the boy's name made Noelle snort before she clamped a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking with mirth as she tried to hold in her laughter.

Kyoya-_chan. _

_Kyoya-chan. _

With a growl, Hibari charged at Ayame with his tonfas out. Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Noelle could only watch as the two of them fought with Hibari intent on badly hurting his childhood friend for addressing him by his first name within his territory and adding '-chan' at the end of it.

_"Kyoya-chan!"_

_CLANK! _

It was the sound of the prefect's tonfas hitting a metal pipe where Ayame's head had just been moments before. Underneath the force, the pipe bent and Noelle surmised that Kyoya really didn't give a damn about who you were, friend or not, when he fought.

You just had to be strong.

Or make the mistake of pissing him off.

0000

_**Five years into the future...**_

_Noelle's chest felt like it was on fire as she stumbled to the bathroom. The pain had started the night before and she thought that if she got a good night's rest, the pain would be gone by the time she woke up. _

_But it hadn't. _

_In fact, the pain was even worse than before. _

_Realizing that she wasn't going to be able to make it to the toilet, she went for the next best thing: the bathroom sink. Unsteady on her feet, she gripped the surface of the marble as best as she could and using it to hold her up, coughed into her other hand. She winced; even coughing was painful now. When she opened her eyes and looked at her palm, her eyes widened in disbelief and horror. _

_There was red on her hand. _

_It was blood. _

_Feeling like a hot poker had stabbed her right through the heart, Noelle coughed into her hand again. But instead of the small amount that had just covered her hand when she coughed the first time, enough blood to warrant a trip to the hospital splattered onto the floor and her clothes. Tears sprung up to her eyes as she sank onto the ground, no longer able to deny the inevitable as she stared at her shaking hand. _

_Her time was nearly up. In a few months she was going to depart from this world, her trial finally finished. _

_Staring at her blood covered hand, she allowed her composure to crack slightly as she placed her head in her hands. She sobbed as she realized than in a few months she was going to die again. _

_She broke down as she knew that she was never going to be able to see them again. _

_An image of a handsome young man with brown hair and caramel eyes flickered through her mind and she cried even harder. _

_Noelle wasn't going to be able to see Tsuna again. _

_Tsuna... who she had fallen in love with despite warnings not to. _

_Tsuna who had always been there for her during her own internal struggles  
><em>

_She screamed despite the pain in her chest that should have restricted her from doing so.  
><em>

_0000_

_"Why didn't you say anything?" Noelle heard Tsuna demand angrily. She could feel his anger and hurt reverberate through his chest as he held onto her despite the blood that had stained the white shirt of his suit from her latest coughing fit. _

_Noelle wanted to answer that she didn't want him and the others to worry about her, but she knew that was an extremely weak excuse. So she didn't say anything; just allowing herself to listen to Tsuna's heart beat as she gripped the fabric of his shirt even tighter. It was such a soothing sound and despite the throbbing agony she had been accustomed to for the past few weeks, she had felt calm for the first time since that day in the bathroom. The pain was beginning to ease, if just a little. _

_That sound..._

_This warmth... _

_She was never going to be able to hear... or feel it again. She had always known that. She was no longer part of the living; not dead but not alive either. But why did it hurt so much? _

_Why did it hurt?_

_And like that time when she hadn't bothered to hold back her despair, she allowed her tears to stream down her face. She had lied to Tsuna so many times; and yet he continued to trust her when he knew perfectly well she wasn't telling the truth. _

_Noelle felt her tears being wiped away and her head was tilted upwards. Something soft and warm crashed on top of her mouth, making her blue eyes widen. _

_Tsuna's head was tilted to the side, his lips pressed against hers passionately while his eyes were closed.  
><em>

_Her mind screamed that this was wrong. Tsuna kissing her was wrong and that she should shove him away as hard as she could and run away in the opposite direction. But no matter how much her mind screamed and screamed at her, her body didn't want to obey. Instead, she allowed herself to be pulled into his embrace as he leaned over her. Her sense of touch and smell seemed to be the only senses working as all she felt was his tight embrace and his soft lips met as they met hers; his scent being the only thing she could smell. _

_As they continued to kiss, the only thing that Noelle could do was lose herself in that moment. _

_And apologize to the man she loved within her mind. _

_0000_

_He knew that this day would come eventually. Back then, Noelle had kept telling him that she wouldn't be around to baby-sit him forever and make sure he was okay, so he better damn well start learning to fight. But what he didn't expect was that it would be so soon. _

_The Serafin's condition worsened each day to the point that she was bed ridden. She could breathe on her own, but just barely enough that she didn't need an respirator. They decided against bringing her to hospital; there was no point. It wouldn't have helped her in any way other than to have the doctors and nurses flustered at how fast her health was deteriorating._

_And so, she stayed in the largest room of the Vongola Headquarters in Japan.  
><em>

_The light within her eyes was fading and Tsuna knew that soon, she would be somewhere far beyond his reach._

_His Guardians and the others had already said good-bye to her and had left the room to give the Serafin and Vongola Decimo the privacy for them to say their final good-byes.  
><em>

_"Tsuna..." She said, smiling at him as she curled her hand within his and gave him a tight squeeze. Noelle had a gentle expression on her face and even though she smiled, all the Vongola Decimo could feel was his heart being crushed within an invisible grip. _

_"I... love... you." Her eyes slowly began to close, her smile beginning to fade as she allowed death to consume her. " And I wanted to tell you... thank you... thank you for everything." She paused. "And... good...bye."  
><em>

_The last part was said so softly that if Tsuna hadn't been straining to listen to her last words, he wouldn't have heard her. Noelle's hand, still being held in his, went slack as she finally breathed her last. _

_And for the first time ever since she had told him that she was dying, Tsuna allowed himself to cry. _

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><p><strong>Okay guys, tell me what you thought of that ending. <strong>**I worked my butt off to try and make it as emotional as I could, not to mention listened to sad sounding OSTs, so that helped. But yeah, this is the first future in which Noelle and Tsuna are separated. While I like the ending part, something within me is wondering if I went overboard. Meh, you'll have to tell me.**

**Yes, Noelle's second death was different than her first. You'll learn why later. Probably next chapter or the one after that; just know that it was she who changed the circumstances of her second death for a very good reason.  
><strong>

**And I introduced in this chapter Ayame, Hibari's fun childhood friend who loves to annoy the living hell out of him. She'll make more future appearances, if just to be the bane of both the prefect and Noelle.  
><strong>

**I have fanart! A big shout out to Annindofu who drew Noelle and sent me the link! Thank you so much! **

**Here's the link:** http:/i271(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/jj138/Satan_Morroc/1310616957-1(dot)jpg

**You can also check it out on my profile. Squee!**

**Kay guys, I have a lot of reviewers out there, I know it. It won't hurt to leave a review! So in other words, please review!**


	13. Cake Day

**Hmm... at first. the beginning episodes of the Future Arc are a bit boring but I'm coming to appreciate them. Though I'm slowly working my way through it as I'm also writing this fic at the same time. Actually, this is the only story that I've been working on for months. I can't seem to find the inspiration for my other stories, which is a big pain the butt. **

**Wow, I got a lot of feedback about Noelle's death in the future being sad. And when I read the reviews, I was like, "YES!" because that is the exact response I wanted. And yes, she dies in the first future. But if you recall, in the future arc it's all about the main cast going about ten years into the future and changing events. So who knows, maybe Noelle's fate will be different in the second time line.**

**By the way, thank you to Adelle for recommending those songs in her review. God, I love listening to these songs so much.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the KHR franchise. I do, however, own Noelle, Ayame and the Serafin. And Yukishiro if I'm thinking of adding her in. Depends. **

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><p><strong>Cake Day<strong>

"Tsuna, you look horrible." Noelle said when the boy walked out his house, his shoulders slumped. "Did you get enough sleep?"

Noelle had decided that at least once, she should walk to school with him. So she got up earlier than usual that morning even when it pained her to do so, prepared her already pre-bought lunch and then ran all the way to his residence with more than enough time to wait for classmate and get to school on time.

The boy in question who hadn't expected her to be there stared at her in surprise. "Noelle-chan? What are you doing here?"

"At your service!" She flashed him a peace sign. "And I thought that we should walk to school together at least once!"

"But don't you live in the opposite direction?" Tsuna blinked.

Noelle wondered how he had known that until she remembered that he had come over to her apartment with Gokudera, Yamamoto and Reborn once.

"Yeah, which is why I had to get up early so that I'd make it over to your place before you left." She said sheepishly. "Huh... that was kind of counterproductive now that I think about it..." She trailed off.

By the way he was staring at her, Noelle could tell that Tsuna was saying some sort of sarcastic comment in his mind and sweat dropping. Even though, he didn't seem to mind too much. "But I'm happy you took the time to come over to my place."

Noelle looked at Tsuna who immediately looked away and she couldn't help smiling at him; even if he didn't know it, Tsuna had the ability to make others feel better. How could people address him as 'No good Tsuna' when he had such a good heart? A good heart, but little self-confidence within himself and what he was capable of.

"Well, don't expect it to become an everyday occurrence." Noelle sighed, tilting her head to the side and closing her eyes as they began to walk. "I mean I had to get up early just so that I'd be here before you left. And I'm not a morning person."

He knew that. How many times had he caught her dozing off during morning classes?

"So did you have a nightmare or something last night?"

Tsuna groaned in response.

0000

When Noelle chuckled, Tsuna felt a little self-conscious so he looked away. Unlike most of his classmates, Noelle didn't necessarily laugh at him because he was No-good Tsuna and he had done something to embarrass himself again. She laughed because the opportunity called for it. Though sometimes she over did it, it was nice hearing her laugh...

Tsuna immediately slapped the sides of his face, startling Noelle.

"Tsuna, are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just still a bit sleepy."

He could tell that she didn't believe him but chose not to say anything about it as she looked on ahead while they walked to school.

"So that nightmare... what was it about?"

Tsuna flushed as he remembered the dream where he was in the church getting married. It started out great until the bride's face was revealed to be Miura Haru's. He shivered; he was getting used to the brunette who was making it her mission to become his wife, but he was certain that he didn't want to marry her. What was even worse about it was that everyone he knew was congratulating him, even Kyoko-chan and Noelle-chan.

Eh? That wasn't right. Noelle had always encouraged him to pursue his affections for the school idol and was always giving him a shove (sometimes literally) telling him to "Go for it,". So why did it bother him that the Serafin was happy about his marrying Haru? Maybe it was because she supported him trying to win Kyoko-chan's heart?

"I.." He rubbed the back of his head, feeling sweat trickling down his neck. "I... was getting married."

Noelle's eyes lit up with anticipation and Tsuna could tell that she was going to milk him for details one way or another.

"You were?" She sounded excited. "Who were you getting married to? Kyoko-chan?"

Tsuna blushed; she was looking at him so _expectantly _that he could barely bring himself to tell her that it wasn't their classmate who was his bride in that dream.

"No." He shook his head.

Her eyes widened with surprise and she tilted her head, blinking. "Then who was it?"

"It was Haru."

"That girl from Midori Middle?"

He nodded.

"Hm..." Noelle looked thoughtful. "...that isn't so bad. She's a nice person, maybe a little too clingy but she has a good heart."

"But I don't want to marry her!" Tsuna shook his head. "I want to marry Kyoko-chan!"

Chuckling, Noelle placed her hands in front of her in a 'I surrender' fashion. "Sorry, sorry. You're right, you should marry someone you truly love." Her gaze softened. "But that works both ways as well."

"Eh?"

"You can't force someone you like to like you the same way. If you tried," She paused and her expression darkened. "It will not end well. I can promise you that it will not end well for all parties involved."

Noelle was glaring at the ground, her fist clenched. She was frowning and Tsuna could see anger in her eyes. Then her expression brightened and she was smiling again.

"Haven't you watched animes like School Days?"

"Eh?"

"Okay, two girl love interests. One boy. One girl stabs the boy (who is a douche by the way) while the other girl goes completely nuts, severs the head of the lifeless boy before showing it to the girl who killed him and then killing her with a dozuki, slashing her womb open with said weapon afterwards and then taking the head and sailing off on a boat."

As Noelle said all that nonchalantly, Tsuna's face paled.

"But don't worry." She clamped a hand on his shoulder. "I know that sort of thing won't happen to you."

But the damage was done. Tsuna was irrevocably scarred for life on all matters concerning love triangles and was quickly thinking of ways to try and get Haru to turn her affections on to someone else.

"As I've said, don't worry about it." There was an apologetic expression on her face even though she was still smiling. "Stuff like that rarely happens in real life."

"Yeah!" Tsuna was desperately trying to convince himself of that fact.

"Good!" Noelle ruffled his hair. She liked to do that a lot and despite Gokudera's threats to blow her up if she didn't knock it off, she still ran her hands through his hair.

The action reminded him about something that Reborn had said earlier this morning.

_"Haru maybe the best for you."_

_"Why do you know what happened in my dream?" Tsuna asked horrified. _

_"However, Sasagawa Kyoko is a good woman; she's well qualified to be the wife of the Vongola Family's boss." Reborn tilted his head forward so that his fedora was covering his eyes, completely ignoring what his student had said. "But it is Serafin Noelle who would be the best choice." _

_"Don't choose who I should marry!" Tsuna wanted to marry Kyoko!  
><em>

_"Though I don't think you would be able to." Reborn said and for the first time Tsuna had met him, there was a tone in the hitman's voice that he couldn't describe. And if Tsuna could convince himself, the baby's voice sounded sad and filled with regret. "She is a Serafin."_

As he stared at Noelle, Tsuna wondered what his tutor had meant by that. Gokudera described the Serafin as being secretive, no one really knowing how they recruited members (he had tried to join them, but they turned him down though not without giving him some money that would last him a while, warm clothes for colder days and food whenever he would be forced to rough it out). They were mysterious and there were many rumours that were all unconfirmed surrounding them.

The biggest rumour was that they stood guard over something. Something important and Gokudera said that there were whispers that it was the Akashic Records of the world. Tsuna didn't believe any of it but the Hurricane Bomber seemed so passionate about anything supernatural or to do with the supernatural that he didn't want to discourage him in any way. Gokudera took everything he said seriously, even if he was joking.

But Reborn's uncharacteristic melancholy made him wonder about Noelle and the family she had come from. Were those in the Serafin not allowed to marry or have relationships due to their secrecy?

That thought was pushed to the back of his head when he saw Kyoko standing by the school entrance.

0000

Noelle ignored the stinging pain in her right foot as she walked over to the island of desks that Yamamoto and Gokudera had set up after Yamamoto had shouted for her across the room. Since Tsuna was glancing forlornly in the direction of where Kyoko and Hana had just left, she assumed that he had wanted to sit with his crush, but was denied the opportunity to do so. Normally she would have given him a sympathetic glance or have ruffled his hair to assure him that there would be more opportunities to approach Kyoko in the future, but Noelle was a bit distracted at the moment.

"Ah, Noelle-chan." She looked up from glaring at her food. Tsuna 'Hiie'd' earning her a "Don't scare the Tenth!" from Gokudera. "Um, are you alright? You seemed bothered by something this morning."

"I'm fine. Just a little annoyed." 'A little annoyed' was an understatement. Because discovering tacks after you slipped on your shoes wasn't a pleasant experience, despite her high pain tolerance.

As much as she wanted to avoid going to the nurse's office, Noelle couldn't walk around with pins embedded into the soles of her feet either. So she sucked up her reluctance and forced herself to go visit the new school nurse, Shamal. While Noelle had hoped that he wouldn't pay her very much attention, her hopes had gone unfounded.

He had paid attention to her alright. A lot more than any person had a right to.

As soon as he had finished treating her foot that he handled as if she was a princess, she thanked him and got the hell out of there. He had been nice and other than the staring, he hadn't really done anything that warranted him a slap. But she wasn't going to push her luck by remaining in the office any longer than she needed to.

The only good thing she liked about her trip to the school infirmary was that he hadn't asked her why there were tacks in her foot like any sane person would. He just tutted, and started taking out the tacks.

"Tsuna, do you want some?" Yamamoto was offering a sky blue lunch box to the boy.

When did Yamamoto get that lunch box?

Noelle could plainly see the dark blue one that Yamamoto brought to school everyday right in front of him. Hearing giggling, she glanced over at a group of girls who were eagerly discussing the fact that the baseball player had accepted the lunch one of them had made. Then one of them met her eyes and whispered something so that now all of them were staring at Noelle.

Wait, were they glaring at her?

Noelle looked away immediately and concentrated on her food. But as she tried digging into her meal and ignoring Yamamoto's fan club, she could feel someone glaring at her from behind as well and she whirled around to see who it was. More girls stood by the door way, their eyes furiously burning into hers.

The blonde was aware of the fact that she wasn't the most popular person in the school, but this was the first time that any of her classmates or people from other classes had out right glared at her like this.

Heck, she wouldn't be surprised if any of these group of girls were the perpetrators of the tacks being in her shoes in the first place.

Noelle narrowed her blue eyes at them, glaring back before she whirled around to face her friends again. She could deal with them later; right now, she was going to enjoy her lunch even if she had to force herself to do so.

"I see that you've garnered the jealousy of your friends' fan clubs." Reborn's voice spoke from beside her.

There was a loud crash and thud following that statement as Noelle fell sideways from her chair.

"Noelle-chan!"

"When did you get here?" Noelle said incredulously, staring wide eyed at the beam that was protruding from the classroom floor.

Standing on top of the beam was Reborn with a smug little smile on his face.

0000

Her food supply for the month had run out so Noelle had no choice but to go shopping even though her foot was still sore. She checked over the list of already prepared food that she had bought before confirming that she was done for the day and she could go home. That was at least her plan until she saw Tsuna. Haru was also with him, holding tightly onto his hand.

"Hey!" She waved at him.

"Noelle-chan!" Tsuna looked relieved to see her, no doubt wondering if she could do something about the girl holding onto him.

"Hi Tsuna-kun, Miura-san!" She walked over to them. "Where are you two heading?"

The dark haired brunette clutched Tsuna's arm even more tightly, making the boy flail even more uncomfortably.

"We're going to Haru's favorite place!" She declared.

"Oh, can I come?" Noelle asked. She didn't have anything better to do, so why not tag along?

Haru scrutinized her for a few minutes, making Noelle shift uncomfortably under her gaze. The blonde got the feeling that Haru didn't like her all that much, but Noelle wondered what she did to get on the girl's bad list. She had been sick when the girl had accused Tsuna of corrupting Reborn's "innocent" mind and even though Haru had thought she was dating Tsuna when they first met at the boxing club, the two of them (Tsuna and Noelle) had instantly cleared up that fact right away.

"Alright." She finally said with a nod.

"Okay, then let's go." She threw a questioning glance at Tsuna who only stared back in confusion. He shrugged and Noelle decided to put Haru not liking her on her growing list of things she should dwell on at a later date.

They walked in silence until they reached a shop with it's name written in cursive english letters: Cake and Bread.

_'This is the store Ayame took me to.' _Noelle thought as she followed Haru and Tsuna into the store.

"Wow, they look so delicious!" Haru said, bending over so she could get a better look at the cakes on display.

"You're going to buy a cake?" Tsuna asked.

"That's right. Haru determined that today is the once-a-month Haru Appreciation Day."

"Oh, really..." Tsuna didn't know what to say to that.

Noelle tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked at her, she jabbed her thumb to the left, indicating that he look in the direction she was pointing to. She had spotted the girl before he had and Noelle thought that he'd like to know that his love interest was also at the store. At least before he started freaking out about the fact that Kyoko was going to mistake him and Haru going out.

Well she thought he was going to be freaking out.

Instead, he was just standing there making googly eyes at her.

Huh... that was weird. Not a huge change or anything but Noelle couldn't help but be bothered by it a little.

"Tsuna-kun! Noelle-chan!" Oh, Kyoko spotted them.

"Hi Kyoko." Noelle waved, while stomping on Tsuna's foot to bring him back from dream land.

"Ow!" Tsuna yelped, hopping on one foot as held onto the one that the blonde had purposely stepped on. Hard. "Noelle-chan, what was that for?"

"Um-!" Kyoko's cheeks were pink as she tried to explain the white box she was holding onto. "This is- once a month!"

"Kyoko-chan, calm down." Noelle could feel a metaphorical sweat drop running down the back of her head. Even though Kyoko was absolutely adorable when she got flustered, you couldn't help but feel sorry for her either.

"I decided that, once a month, I'll ear as much cake as I like." It really was hard not to laugh at Kyoko, but for her classmates' sake, Noelle decided that now was not the time. Kyoko would only get even more flustered and she knew that Tsuna wouldn't appreciate his crush being embarrassed in public. "It's not like I eat three pieces a day!"

Noelle snorted, clasping both her hands over her mouth as her shoulders shook. She immediately looked away from Kyoko, trying to calm herself down. When she risked glancing over at her classmate to see her flailing even more as she kept trying to explain, Noelle burst into laughter, holding onto her stomach as she gave up on the idea of staunching her laughs and just tried to remain standing up.

"No-Noelle-chan!" Tsuna sounded both annoyed and concerned.

"I- I'm sorry." She wheezed, grabbing onto Tsuna's shoulder for support as she slowly forced herself to stand up straight. "It's... I know I shouldn't laugh."

One look at Kyoko who was staring furiously at the ground, her face bright red with signs that she was close to tears, Noelle sobered up. Now she felt like a complete ass for finding amusement at something that Kyoko didn't find funny in the first place and was mentally kicking herself as many times as she could as punishment. Her friends in her old world had said that she over did her laughing sometimes and she had even made someone cry once because of it.

"I'm sorry, Kyoko. I couldn't help it." Yeah, she was feeling really bad about this now. Noelle vowed that she'd buy some more cake to make up for it. Or maybe something else. "It's, well..."

Great, how was she supposed to say this? She never really was that good at apologizing to people. Her apologies were sincere but it was just that she sounded so awkward when it down came to it.

"It's okay, Noelle-chan." Kyoko was smiling again. Not as big as her usual smiles, but considering that Noelle had just laughed at her moments ago, it was to be expected. "I understand that my reaction was over the top. I was just really surprised to see you and Tsuna-kun."

She averted her gaze, her cheeks still pink.

Noelle sighed. "How about this: next month I'll treat you. You can buy all the cake you want."

"R-really?" Kyoko's eyes were sparkling and she seemed much happier.

"Yes." Noelle smiled back. She just hoped that it wouldn't cost too much though.

As Kyoko and Haru chatted together about cakes; what Haru should buy today and what Kyoko should get for next month since she didn't have to pay, Noelle sighed again.

Kyoko was always sweet and bubbly towards everyone around her that Noelle had nearly forgotten that she was human as well and got upset like everyone else did. She turned towards Tsuna as Reborn, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere sitting on a red blanket, distracted the girls.

"Tsuna, slap me."

"Eh?"

0000

"Tsuna! Slow down! You're going to run someone over!" Noelle shouted as she ran after said person in his green white polka dot boxers who was carrying I-pin with him as he sped down the street. Speed wasn't her forte, but she had plenty of endurance so she didn't have to worry about slowing down and catching her breath.

Noelle knew that Tsuna's search for the antidote to the Gyoza buns would bring him to the street where the vendors would be, so she didn't have to worry about losing sight of him.

It had started off with them leaving the cake shop and heading over to Tsuna's place to eat the pastries all three girls had bought with Tsuna wondering if they were going to be able to finish it all. While he had looked forward to Kyoko coming over, the mood had been ruined by Haru and her tagging along.

Thinking about it, Noelle wished she hadn't gone. There was one thing she had completely forgotten about in her greediness to eat cake:

Fifteen year old Lambo's appearance.

Like the first time she had met his future self, he had been in tears.

_Noelle had just stood there as the young man sobbed into her shirt after she had gone down to get something to drink from the kitchen. She had expected to be knocked down like last time, but his reaction to seeing her a second time was thankfully a lot tamer._

_"Um... there, there?" She patted his back awkwardly. Thankfully no one had come down to see what source the of the sobbing was, other wise she was going to have difficulties explaining why she was trying to comfort a crying teenager from the future._

_"It's good to see you again!" He sniffled, blowing his nose into her shirt much to her disgust though she tried not to be bothered about it. "Even if it's for five minutes!"_

_While Lambo seemed more in control of his emotions than before, his eyes were still red and he had to wipe away the occasional tear that threatened to fall down his cheek. With a small sigh, Noelle took the adolescent by his hand and led him up the stairs._

_"Come on Lambo," She said. "I have something that may cheer you up."_

_"You do?" He asked._

_"Of course!" Noelle smiled. "Cake! It's the best thing to have if you're feeling down!"_

_He chuckled. "You always did love cake, Noelle-nee."_

_Once they were in Tsuna's room seated and eating pastries, Lambo didn't bring up the issue of her no longer being around. He must have understood that bringing up the subject around the others wasn't a good idea as knowledge of what happens in the future could drastically change the past. Thank god that fifteen year old Lambo was much more aware of the world around him than his younger self._

_"The young Vongola doesn't know how to treat woman." Lambo said when Tsuna had tried to deter the girls from eating the Gyoza buns that I-pin had offered them. Noelle hadn't been offered one, so she was safe. She didn't know if the Gyoza bun would have the same effect on her as it would on Kyoko and Haru, but it was better not to risk it._

_"So does that mean his future self does?" Noelle asked Lambo wryly._

_The anime and manga didn't reveal much on what the future Tsuna would be like. The only appearance he had made was when he had stated that his younger self with the most potential would arrive in that era. Since puberty had long hit him by then, his voice was quite masculine in a nice way. Of course, this made the fan girls squeal and start drawing up ideas on what he would be like. Their ideal future Tsuna? The opposite of his younger self but handsome, confident and absolutely delicious in ways that Noelle was not going into for the sake of her sanity._

_"Noelle-chan, your face is all red." Tsuna pointed out._

_Oh, crap. It was?_

_"So what's his future self like?" Noelle said, in an attempt to distract herself in wondering what kind of person future Tsuna was._

_"I'm sorry, Noelle-nee." Lambo looked extremely apologetic. "I can't tell you that kind of information. Even to you."_

_She should have known it wasn't going to be that easy. "Can you at least tell me if he's a womanizer?"_

_"Noelle-chan!" Tsuna cried, his face going bright red._

_"What?" She said defensively. "A lot can change within ten years!"_

_She looked back at Lambo. "Well? Because if he is, I'm going to take your bazooka and launch myself into the future for the purpose of smacking him. I'm not saying he has to be the perfect gentleman, but a womanizer?"_

_Yeah, because a suave and smooth Tsuna who flirted with various girls a like was just plain scary._

_"Don't worry." Lambo chuckled. "He's not like that. Tsuna-nii is courteous to women, but there was only one girl he eventually came to love."_

_"Ooh, was it Kyoko?" Noelle said clasping her hands together, hoping that he'd say yes. It would be nice if Tsuna ended up with the girl he liked because having seen some of her friends being rejected, she knew rejection was not a pleasant thing and Tsuna deserved to have one thing in his life to go right. Angie was a good example of rejection gone wrong._

_But Lambo stared at her as if she had grown a second head. He opened his mouth, about to say something, when there was a soft thud and everyone turned to see what the source of the noise was._

_Kyoko and Haru had collapsed onto the floor, the buns they had eaten falling out of their hands._

And that was how Noelle was running after Dying Will Tsuna, pointlessly yelling at him to slow down. At some point during the chase, Gokudera and Yamamoto joined up with her and now all three were rushing down the streets trying to catch up with the future Vongola Decimo.

While Tsuna ran around with I-pin trying to identify who her master was and Gokudera was pulling all the vendors into one area, Noelle led Yamamoto to the only chinese looking vendor on the street. The one managing the stand was wearing purple robes that concealed his mouth along with a matching hat and dark sunglasses.

"Mm, that smells good." Yamamoto commented, sniffing appreciatively at the smell.

"Can I have nine Gyoza to go please? Oh, and make sure it doesn't kill us in the process." Noelle handed over some money. The vendor, or more accurately Fon the Storm Acrobaleno, gave her a strange look (not that she could really tell since he was wearing sunglasses) but complied to her request and handed her a bag of steaming Gyoza.

"Are you sure these can't kill us?" Noelle peered into the bag before looking up at I-pin's master again.

Yamamoto laughed. "Gyoza buns can't kill people!"

"Unfortunately, we have a situation at Tsuna's house involving Kyoko and Haru proving that they can."

Fon started at what Noelle had said. He shifted, as if he was about to ask her about something when Tsuna raced up to the vendor and slammed his hands down on the surface of the stall.

"Give me the antidote!" He demanded, causing Fon to back away as any person in his situation would.

"Alright, I know Dying Will not only strips you of your clothes but common courtesy as well, but you should show better manners than that!" Noelle said as she pushed Tsuna away from Fon.

"But he has the antidote!" Tsuna shouted at her.

"Yelling at him isn't going to get you the antidote!"

"Master!" I-pin called out in that absolutely adorable voice of hers that Noelle would have hugged her for if she wasn't holding Tsuna back. "Emergency! I-pin make mistake!"

"She gave the buns that are used for Gyoza fist to two normal girls!" Noelle clarified.

Fon immediately handed her the necessary medicine and soon all of them were heading back to the house with Tsuna in the lead.

0000

Popping a piece of cake into her mouth, Noelle savoured the delicacy as much as she could. When they had gotten back to the house, she realized that she hadn't even gotten the chance to eat any of the cake she had bought since she had been too busy talking to fifteen year old Lambo.

Neither Kyoko or Haru remembered the life endangering ordeal, thinking that they had all of a sudden fallen asleep. Which was for the better in everyone's case.

"I'm sorry, Tsuna-kun, for falling asleep at your house like that." Kyoko apologized.

Tsuna shook his head, relieved that they were okay. "It's alright."

Kyoko then noticed that there were two more extra guests with the original group who had come to Tsuna's house. "Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun, when did you get here?"

"Yo!" Yamamoto waved a greeting while Gokudera just grunted in acknowledgement.

"After napping, I feel hungry again." Haru said, eagerly eying the dessert on the table. "There's still some cake left."

"That's right. Let's all have some." Kyoko smiled, agreeing with her new friend.

And of course, after Lambo stole one of I-pin's cakes, chaos settled in. Fortunately for Tsuna, Bianchi chose to come in at the exact time that Gokudera was about to lose his temper so his room wasn't blown to smithereens.

During it all, Noelle just ate her cake.

0000

**_Several years into the future..._**

_"So you want to change the circumstances of your second death in this world?" _

_"Yes." _

_"Hmm... do you mind if I ask why? Was it because your first death was too painful?" _

_"...that's not it." _

_"You don't want your death to be even more painful than it should be for those around you?" _

_"..." _

_"...very well. But you will have less time to spend with the person you were assigned to. Your body will deteriorate, making it look as if you are ill." _

_"Thank you, Seria." _

_"Though... the fact you wish to depart from that world, not wanting to cause pain... it may already be too late."  
><em>

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><p><strong>Yeah, I know. This was sort of a pointless filler as well, but I guess I wanted to show interactions with the other characters. I've dropped hints with those she interacts with. Care to point them out?<br>**

**I really can't wait till the Kokuyo Arc because trust me, I have big plans for that. I just have to get the other episodes out of the way and then we're set! And don't worry, we'll ease into that Arc next chapter. It won't officially start, but, well, heh...  
><strong>

**Can you guess what the last part is? Yeah, I realize that it's just people talking, but I thought it would make more of an impact.  
><strong>

**And don't forget to review! I really want to hear what you think.  
><strong>


	14. Seasons of Change

**Ngh, I should be working on my other fics. And while I still don't mind typing out these fics, I really want to move onto the Kokuyo Arc. So I'm going to do several huge time skips in this chapter because I'm being lazy and I will probably go insane if I don't get to the part where Mokuro decides to make his introduction. **

**Also, I have a new fanfiction! It's called 'Legacy of the Aquila' and it's a Semi-AU crossover between Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I don't have a lot of readers thanks to it being in the Crossover section, which is why I'm shamelessly advertising it in this story! Basically, if you're a fan of Hetalia and I assume you're a fan of KHR if you're reading this then go check it out and tell me what you think!**

**Mm, I was supposed to put this up this coming Friday, but I thought that I should put this up now. It's been done for a while, and besides, the last chapter was a little boring. So I hope you guys enjoy this!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I do, however, own Noelle and the Serafin.**

* * *

><p><strong>Seasons of Change<br>**

The seasons had come and gone much faster than Noelle had anticipated from summer to fall to winter and was slowly making it's way to spring. Though hanging out with Tsuna and being drawn into the the craziness that was his life so far could probably contribute to that; not that she minded. Life was a never dull moment around the Vongola and through them she met interesting people from assassins (who were a bit on the goofy side) to clumsy famiglia bosses.

Though she could have definitely done without the good doctor (or school nurse) following her during school hours.

In the season of summer, Noelle had watched as Reborn trained Yamamoto and Gokudera with his specially designed training methods while Tsuna got caught in the crossfire. She was the one who had to treat the wounds he got as a result since Reborn was merciless and didn't care if his student was on the ground dying or not.

Fall, she got the chance to stalk Tsuna and Kyoko on their date per orders by Reborn. She had tried to object, wanting Tsuna to have that alone time with the girl he liked, but the baby had threatened to shoot her so she went along with it. The most entertaining thing that day was when the animals had been 'liberated' from their cages and she got the chance to see Ryohei playing a boxing match against a bear... using a video game arcade system.

And in winter, Noelle had been forced to participate in the Vongola New Year's event as well as the snowball fight that took place in their school's courtyard. It had been fun at first until Hibari and Ayame had decided to join in.

"Noelle, are you visiting Tsuna too?"

Noelle turned around to see a certain whip wielding blond Italian named Dino coming over towards her with his subordinates in tow. People around them immediately moved away to avoid being swarmed by the men in black.

"Yup!" She held out one of the two grocery bags packed full of sweets, drinks and anything else she could think of.

They were in the hospital after yesterdays events of being on a replica of what was dubbed as 'Death Mountain'. Eventually, Dino's men rescued them but that was an hour after Enzo landed on top of Tsuna's leg, resulting in him getting injured. Noelle's voice was hoarse from trying to reassure the poor boy and distract him from the pain all the while yelling at Gokudera that he was making things a lot worse by hovering around him and praying to the 'Mountain God'.

"Wow, that's a lot. You sure you can carry that all?" Dino asked as he stared at the bags, eyes wide as if he wasn't sure he should be wary or impressed by Noelle's unnatural strength.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay..." Dino said reluctantly, sounding put off. "Just let me know if you need any help. As you can see, I have plenty of it." He gestured towards his subordinates.

Noelle smiled at him before leading him to the room that the hospital placed Tsuna in.

The first time she had officially met the head of the Cavallone famiglia was during the the snow ball fight at the school. Naturally, she had been on Tsuna's team pitching snow balls against Dino's side. It had been a basic fight in the snow until Gokudera decided to switch teams in the middle of the fight, Bianchi, I-pin and Lambo joined in and Dino's subordinates who had somehow concealed themselves within the walls of his snow fort decided to make an appearance.

They didn't get any further than acknowledging each others' presence, but they were able to talk more yesterday. Dino was impressed by the fact that Noelle was a Serafin after she showed him her necklace. Reborn had told Dino about her being assigned to Tsuna, but the Italian had wanted to meet her for himself and see if she was a worthy protector of his little brother.

_"So you're Noelle Serra I take it?" _

_A nod. "And you must be Bucking-Bronco Dino." _

_"Ha ha ha. Just call me Dino." _

When they stood outside the door of Tsuna's room, they could hear the jaunting demands that his roommates were making of him. Blankly, she turned towards Dino and the others who were also listening in as well since Dino's eyes were narrowed and some of his men had small frowns on their faces.

"Why don't we give Tsuna a hand? Even the odds out a bit?" Noelle couldn't keep the grin off her face.

Dino smirked back. Not an evil smirk that Noelle was accustomed to seeing, but a smirk all the same.

Wait, Dino smirked?

"Sure." He gestured towards the door in a sweeping motion. "Ladies first."

"Tsuna-kun!" Noelle slammed the door open, startling the poor boy who was using a crutch to support himself as he was forced to cater to the demands of his room mates. There was a loud crack that she ignored (ugh, more bills) as she stepped aside to allow the Cavallone famiglia to make their grand entrance. "Look who came to see you as well!"

Romario was in the lead with four other men on all sides, surrounding someone. Stepping to the side, Romario revealed Dino who greeted the mafia boss he considered as his little brother.

"Dino-san!" Tsuna blinked.

"I met him in the hall! Isn't it nice he came to visit?"

"We decided to drop in," He grinned. But the grin slipped right off his face as he apologized for yesterday's Death Mountain trip. "I'm sorry, Tsuna. I was there and allowed you to get hurt."

"No, it wasn't your fault." Tsuna quickly reassured him.

"Here," Dino reached into his jacket and brought out his turtle. "Apologize, Enzo."

Tsuna backed away from the turtle, not quite eager to be up in front with the very creature that had terrorized him and the others for the better half of the day. "It's alright." He stammered.

While they spoke, Noelle decided to see how Tsuna's roommates were doing. Much to her glee, they were down right terrified as they stared in awe at the dark suit clad men that were beginning to fill in the small room. She smiled sweetly at one of the boys, making him fall right off the bed.

Noelle didn't think Dino was capable of being mischievous in any way (at least his current self) but he played his part beautifully. He took the hand of one of the guys who had treated Tsuna as a lackey and told him to look after his little bro even though the look in his eyes promised something horrible happening if they continued to treat the future Vongola Decimo like they did moments before.

His men joined in the fun too, glaring down at the boys sternly. While she, Dino and even Tsuna knew that they wouldn't do anything to harm them, there was no way for the boys to know that.

Noelle had to move out of the way as the patients ran out screaming for their mothers.

"So how was that?" Dino was smiling widely as he turned towards Noelle.

"Perfect! I don't think they'll be bothering Tsuna for a while now!"

"Eh?" Tsuna stared at Dino and then Noelle in horror. "You two planned that?"

"Sort of." The Cavallone boss said at the same the Serafin responded with a, "Kinda."

"You're going to get me kicked out!" Tsuna cried, not as impressed about their mischief as they were.

Noelle and Dino's gazes locked together as they came to the realization that Tsuna was right. The other patients were likely to tattle on Tsuna for having guests who looked as if they belonged to the mafia (ha ha ha).

Dino rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while Noelle slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. Neither of them had really thought that far ahead.

Whoops.

0000

Weeks after Tsuna was out of the hospital, it was Valentines' day. The one day of the year where girls and boys shipped off chocolates and flowers to their boyfriend or girlfriend or people they liked. Or in Japanese culture, girls mobbed boys with boxes of store bought or homemade chocolate.

Noelle expected to see groups of girls surrounding the most popular boys of their grade, Yamamoto and Gokudera, especially after she passed by groups of girls who giggled with each other showing off the chocolates they had either bought or made themselves to each other. While she ignored the other students crowding the hallways, Noelle glanced down at her own bag that carried three packages of homemade chocolates that took her hours to make perfectly.

She could have bought them, but decided that even though her cooking skills were non-existent (except when it came down to making cupcakes) it would be fun to make them herself. And it had been fun...

...for the first five minutes.

"Good morn-" She was about to announce to the class until she caught sight of Yamamoto in a sea of girls. Before she could wrap the image around her head, she felt someone roughly push her aside.

"Hey!" She glared at the person to see that they weren't paying attention to her at all. Instead, they were looking expectantly at Gokudera who didn't seem as happy to see his fan club as they did to see him.

Rolling her eyes in disgust, Noelle picked herself off the floor and walked over to Tsuna who was staring at both his friends forlornly.

"Here." She said, taking out the box that she had placed her chocolates in. The box was a gold colour and the ribbon she had placed on top was red. "Thought that you might need some cheering up on this depressing day."

"Th-thanks." Tsuna stammered, taking the package from her. He flinched when he saw the sad state of her hands; covered entirely in bandages just like that time when she had fought Ayame. "Noelle-chan, your hands..."

"Ah..." Noelle looked away, her cheeks flaming. "I thought making chocolates was going to be easy but it took me hours and a couple of tries (seven to be exact) to get them done right."

The edge of the knife's blade kept cutting into her fingers and as a result she had to keep throwing out the batch of chocolates she had been working on. And if that wasn't enough, she burnt her hands handling the stove as well as the hot kitchen utensils that had been exposed to heat. Even if her hands would take a while to heal, it was well worth the fact that she had managed to make something on her own.

Tsuna's eye twitched in that way that said he couldn't believe how someone could so blatantly ignore the obvious explosions in the background or how they could screw up something so simple horribly. In Noelle's case, it was probably the latter.

Noelle smiled sheepishly. "I know. I haven't actually cooked anything for practically my whole life and I followed the introductions in the chocolate making book perfectly, but I can't guarantee the taste." She looked down at her bag and showed him two other boxes of chocolates. "I was planning on giving Yamamoto and Gokudera chocolates as well but I think I'll do that later."

"Y-yeah." Tsuna said staring at the girls who were shoving their sweets on to his friends.

"Anyways," She looked behind Tsuna to where Kyoko was sitting in her desk reading. "I'm sure you'll get those chocolates from her one day."

Noelle had given the chocolates to Yamamoto and Gokudera after school and had planned to go straight home afterwards but somehow, Kyoko had caught up with her and asked if she wanted to go over to Tsuna's place.

She would've declined if Kyoko hadn't been looking at her so expectantly. And even if she didn't do any cooking after she screwed up the first batch of chocolates, she was definitely useful when Bianchi came out with the poisoned cooking crackers.

Once again, the poison hadn't killed her but she had spent a majority of the day afterwards in the toilet throwing up the contents of her stomach. On the other hand, Gokudera had a new found respect for her since she had laid her life on the line for the Tenth when his sister had tried to force the crackers on his future boss while he was incapacitated.

0000

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Reborn asked when Noelle walked into Tsuna's room with a younger boy gripping tightly onto her hand.

"Yes." Noelle said when she gestured for the boy to sit on a cushion. She took off his scarf and jacket and folded them neatly, placing them on the corner of Tsuna's bed before sitting down and telling Reborn about what had happened earlier. "But as you can see..."

She gestured to the boy.

Reborn's obsidian black eyes observed the boy, making the latter fumble nervously under his gaze like most people did. He maybe the one who knew the ranks of all the people in the world, but he was still nine years old and even grown men who knew of the baby hitman's reputation were easily quailed.

"Ranking Fuuta?" He questioned her.

Noelle nodded. "He was in trouble, so I decided to help him out."

_Earlier that morning, Noelle's alarm clock had failed to ring due to her negligence of turning it on the night before. When she saw that she had slept in, Noelle decided that going to school was not worth the punishment Hibari would put her through for being late._

_At around noon, she was making herself a chicken sandwich, when there was a knock on her door. _

_She went over to the peek hole to see who it was. _

_At first, she didn't see anyone but a second knock more louder and desperate than the first sounded through out her unit and Noelle decided to take a chance and open the door._

_Standing in front of her apartment was a boy with light brown hair wearing a dark blue jacket accompanied by a white black striped scarf._

_It was Ranking Fuuta._

_"Ranking Fuuta?"_

_He quickly ran inside her apartment while Noelle shut the door behind her and locked it up with both bolt and chain. He was most likely hiding away from the men who were trying to capture him and use his ranking skills for their nefarious deeds._

_"Thank you Noelle-nee!" Fuuta bowed when she had turned around._

_"You're welcome." She said, walking towards the kitchen, not questioning at all how he knew her name. He was the one with a ranking book list, after all. "I was about to have lunch but I guess I have to make more helpings. Are you hungry?"_

_Fuuta's stomach grumbled before the boy could reply and Noelle chuckled, going over to the counter that her chicken sandwich had been on and grabbing the plate. The boy blushed as she placed the plate in front of him._

_"This was supposed to be mine, but I think you need it more than I do." She paused. "Want anything to drink?"_

_He nodded._

_And so Noelle poured him a glass of orange juice before going into the kitchen again to make herself another chicken sandwich. They ate in silence until Fuuta brought out the huge book that he somehow concealed within his jacket (did hammerspace exist in this universe?) and started writing in it._

_"Um, Fuuta?"_

_"Yes Noelle-nee?"_

_"Why did you come over to my place?" _Why aren't you over at Tsuna's?

_"Because Noelle-nee is ranked number six of being one of the most physically strongest of the mafioso!"_

Wait, what? Number six out of a huge number of people in the mafia?

_"And she's part of the strongest famiglia in the world!"_

What?

_The Serafin was the strongest mafia family?_

_"What about the Vongola?" They were supposed to be the strongest mafia family in the world. The ones who possessed the Vongola rings. _

_For a nine year old kid, he was pretty observant. He took Noelle's disbelief and confusion in stride. "That's what everyone says, but I've compared the Serafin and Vongola together. The Serafin always come out as being number one." _

_By this point, Noelle was reeling in shock. It was the _Serafin _who were the strongest? Granted that the ones who made up the Serafin were half-dead beings who couldn't die until their assigned time combined with being insanely powerful in a couple of ways, but still, she didn't see this coming. _

_She would have asked Fuuta to re-check, but she knew that his rankings were a hundred percent accurate unless it rained. And she assumed that he didn't do those rankings when it was raining. _

_"Noelle-nee?" She glanced at the boy. _

_"Yes?" _

_"Do you know where Tsuna-nii lives?" _

Thankfully, when Noelle had knocked on the door, Nana hadn't asked any questions about why she wasn't at school or why she had a younger boy with her. She cheerfully greeted them and said that Tsuna wouldn't be back for a while, which the blonde had replied would be fine. They could wait; school was over in forty-five minutes anyways and it had taken her and Fuuta over two hours to get to the Sawada household as they had to take several detours around to avoid the men searching for them.

Soon enough, Tsuna came home and wasn't too pleased to find that he had visitors waiting for him in his room.

"Noelle-chan, what are you doing here? And who's this?" He pointed to Fuuta who had been sitting patiently the entire time.

"I finally get to meet you!" Fuuta was up and enthusiastically shaking both of Tsuna's hands. "Nice to meet you Tsuna-nii!"

"Tsuna-nii?" Tsuna repeated. "And _who _are you?"

"His name is Fuuta." Noelle said.

Tsuna opened his mouth but closed it again when Reborn jumped onto his head.

"He seemed like he had a favour to ask you."

"A _favour_?"

"Tsuna-nii, the mafia is after me." Fuuta looked up at him imploringly with big sad puppy eyes that Noelle knew he was going to give in.

0000

0000

Noelle's bit her lip as she risked a glance down at her wrist watch. It was two minutes to midnight and whoever had written the note had yet to show themselves to her. Whoever they were (and she had a feeling she knew who it was) was cutting it pretty close.

When she came back to her apartment complex earlier that day, the receptionist had stopped her by the entrance. She didn't seem happy (not that she ever was whenever Noelle was around) and stated that two unruly boys had come in looking for her. Since Noelle hadn't gone home directly after school, she had missed them but they had left her a letter to read and had told the receptionist that she better make sure Noelle got it.

Feeling uneasy about the letter and the fact that the deliverers had been wearing green gakuen uniforms, she decided to read it once she was in her apartment. When she was inside, she kicked off her shoes and threw her bag to the side before sitting down on the couch and opening the envelope with slightly shaking hands (much to her surprise).

_Kufufufu~_

_Go to Namimori park at 12 AM if you want Ranking Fuuta to be in one piece. _

There was definitely no doubt in her mind now that the letter had been written by Mukuro Rokudo himself, the antagonist of the Kokuyo Arc as well as Tsuna's future Mist Guardian. He was the only one who said 'kufufufu' (Daemon said 'nufufufu') and Fuuta had at some point been captured and held captive by him until Tsuna and the others went to the abandoned theme park to confront the person who had been hunting down Namimori students.

It was obvious that the letter was luring her into a trap, but what else was she supposed to do? Nothing like this happened in KHR and she was certain that Mukuro would act on his threat. He could really hurt Fuuta; he wasn't going to kill him since he needed the boy's ranking skills to seek out Tsuna and the Vongola, but that was it. Nothing was preventing him from breaking Fuuta's fingers or arms or hurting him in any other way.

_Crap. _

She had plenty of time to prepare herself before the meeting, so Noelle decided to pick out the clothes she was going to wear for her midnight rendezvous. The blonde found it funny that while she was going to be walking straight into a trap in several hours, she still had the mindset to choose something to wear instead of just using the clothes she had come home in.

But why were Mukuro and his flunkies announcing their presence right now?

Noelle knew that the group would make themselves known soon, somewhere after valentines day and before the new school year began when they started attacking various students from Namimori, some from the Discipline Committee. She had kept her ear out for anything suspicious, but as far as she knew, nothing like that had happened yet.

In the end, Noelle chose to wear a pair of dark blue jean shorts with combat boots and a purple fleecy sweater that revealed her bare shoulders with a black tank top underneath. As a last touch, she put on a pair of black fingerless biker gloves.

Wow, she was confronting evil while being fashionable; something she thought couldn't be done anywhere except in the movies. But in these clothes, it was easy enough to move and it would keep her warm.

And she refused to fight (which a nagging feeling told her it would come down to) in a skirt.

At 11: 00, Noelle departed from her apartment. She bade the receptionist good bye and headed to the park to meet the sender of the note or at least his two right hand men.

Hearing footsteps coming from in front of her, Noelle looked up from her watch. The only source of light were the lamps that were lit in the park so outside of the lamp posts' range, she couldn't see a thing.

Once the person came into her view, she was surprised to see that it was the nine year old boy she had given sanctuary to over a week ago.

"Fuuta!" She ran towards him only to stop short.

The younger boy's expression was eerily blank for someone who was taken captive against his will and being used as ransom; he didn't seem that eager to run towards her to get away from his kidnappers.

_'Mukuro must have him under his control already.' _Noelle thought grimly as she eyed the boy warily.

"Are you here alone?" She asked, keeping her voice level while wondering if he was secretly hiding a blade somewhere so that he could stab her once she got too close.

Someone laughed, making her whirl around in the direction it had come from.

"Who's there?" She said, sounding a lot braver than she had actually felt.

Her heart was slamming against her ribcage and something wet was sliding down her neck. Maybe she had over dressed for the occasion? She rubbed her neck to wipe away the gathering sweat before quickly holding onto her staff again, gripping it even tighter.

"Look Kakipi, a little rabbit wandered into our trap."

_Ken Joshima. _

It had to be him. He was the only one who often referred to his bickering partner Chikusa Kakimoto as a four eyed kappa.

"Rabbit?" Noelle sneered, her eyes roaming all over the place as she swiveled her head around. "Fat chance. I don't really like carrots all that much."

She could barely hear anything over the loud thudding noise of her heart. It was beating so fast that she wouldn't have been surprised that it would explode.

There was a snort from the still invisible Ken. "I can smell your fear."

It was a cliche line, but it still freaked her out. Noelle gulped, a reminder to herself to keep breathing.

An inhuman growl made her stomach churn and she turned in the direction it had come from. Something was running towards her at a rapid speed that couldn't be human. Just when it was about to run within the area that she would be able to see him in provided by the lamp post she was underneath, it leaped into the air blocking her view of the lamp post and source of light.

Noelle didn't think; she just reacted. Shifting her hands onto one end of her staff, she waited until they were close enough before jabbing the hard metal into the assailant's stomach, not holding back her super strength.

Something whistled in the air and Noelle twirled her staff in her hands, preventing whatever it was from hitting her. She looked down and saw that the objects that had been thrown at her were needles.

_Chikusa Kakimoto. _

As the identity of her second attacker came to mind, something wrapped around her staff and yanked it right out of her hands.

"Hey!" She said, trying to run after it but stopped once it disappeared from her safe area and into the darkness.

This wasn't good. Not only was she up against two people, she was also weaponless._  
><em>

And then the situation just went from bad to worse. The light from the lamp posts shattered, blanketing the entire park into darkness.

_'No!'_

Noelle heard a snarl from somewhere close to her before she found herself flying into one of the lamp posts she had been relying on as her second set of eyes. She hit the lamp with a thud, sliding down it. Something cut into her hands making them bleed, presumably the glass from the lamp post. She hissed at the pain, but she didn't bother to concentrate on it right now. Noelle had bigger things to worry about, such as dealing with the right hand men of Mokuro Rokudo.

"Is that the best you have to offer?" Ken laughed from the shadows.

"Sorry to break it to you, but I'm still learning the ropes." Noelle said, refusing to let her attacker's taunts bother her. "If you want stronger, you'd have to fight one of my teachers. And I'll let you in on a little something; those two are practically demons and I'm more terrified of them than I am of _you_."

She made sure to emphasize the last part.

Forcing herself up, she looked around trying to determine where either of the Kokuyo boys were. Her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness and she could make out the shapes of the playground and the trees, but she couldn't see anything that looked remotely human or humanoid.

The familiar swish of Chikusa's needles sounded through out the air and Noelle pushed herself away from the lamp post just in time as she heard them hit the spot she had been standing in just moments before. Even if his needles wouldn't have the ability to poison her, the thought of getting hit by any of them was still unpleasant.

And she hated needles. The very thought of them had made her shudder.

"Gah!" Ken had used Chikusa's distraction to get close to her and knocked her down to the ground.

A big meaty hand wrapped itself around her throat, constricting her breathing. She wrapped her own smaller hands around the area of its' wrist, forcing it away from her throat. But even with her strength, she was just barely able to lift the hand away.

"Who do you think you are, King Kong?" Noelle said once she recognized Ken being in his Kong Channel. "Aren't you supposed to be taking some defenseless damsel in distress up a building and beating your hands against your chest?" She paused, musing for a bit. "Or was that Donkey Kong?"

Ken stopped trying to strangle her and just stared at her with an 'are-you-stupid-?' expression.

Knowing that she had just created an opportunity, Noelle's right hand let go of Ken and she swung her fist into the side of his face, making him flinch. Bringing up her legs, she kicked him as hard as she could below the stomach before using all of her strength to fling him right off of her.

Ken groaned, clutching onto his... jewels. "Ugh... you bitch." He spat.

"That's the best insult you could think of?"

Now that Ken was down for a bit, she had to quickly take care of Chikusa-

Noelle didn't have time to do anything other than hold up her arms out in front of her in an x-formation to prevent the large ball like object that had suddenly come flying at her from smashing her skull in. Unfortunately, she was still lifted off her feet, the round object forcing her backwards at high speed.

_'Guh...!' _There was no way for her to force it back; not only was it big, it was fast too and it wasn't letting her feet get a familiar grip on the ground.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Noelle could feel her ribs breaking from the collision of flying into several objects that were also crushed from the force of her body and the large ball. When she finally landed on the ground, she could barely breathe. Ignoring the searing pain that was coursing through her, she forced herself up chanting the mantra that she had gone through worse and that her teachers would kill her if they saw the pathetic situation she was in right now.

Tasting metal in her mouth, she spat out the blood that had been forced up her throat and used the back of her hand to wipe away any visible traces of it. Glaring into the darkness, she tried to figure out where her third assailant was. Apparently Mukuro wasn't one to underestimate someone; or maybe he was just the type to overestimate. Not only had he sent out Ken and Chikusa, he had brought out the possessed Lancia as well.

_'Nice to know he thinks highly of me,' _She thought sarcastically.

What the hell was going on? Why was she being attacked? Did they have Fuuta make a list of the strongest students in the school already?

Noelle's head was pounding to the point that she felt like throwing up. Not only that, her eyes were burning as well. Falling onto one knee, she was forced to use her arms to support herself.

The last thing she remembered was seeing the approaching figure of a tall, foreboding man.

0000

"Tcha!" Ken spat on the ground as he looked disdainfully at the unconscious form of the blonde haired girl who was hanging limply over the tall man's shoulder. "Retrieving that girl was more trouble than it was worth!"

Chikusa pushed the now cracked glasses up the bridge of his nose. "...it's our fault for thinking that the fight had been over once Lancia intervened."

His short tempered companion snorted, shoving his hands into the pocket of the school uniform. "Her strength wasn't normal." He paused his grumbling before speaking again. "...is she really a girl?"

Chikusa's expression remained emotionless. While he did not question Mukuro, he had wondered why he had asked him and Ken to bring along Lancia, who was once known as the strongest man in Northern Italy. Ken had verbally protested, saying that he and the 'four-eyed kappa' would be enough to bring down one girl who looked like a ditzy cheerleader.

However, Mukuro had smiled at Ken and told him to take Lancia anyways, his tone of voice suggesting that it was an order and not a request.

The deadly yo-yo user glanced over at the girl out of the corner of his eye. As Ken had loudly pointed out, she had proven to a more difficult target than anticipated even though she was high on the list of people that Mukuro had given them to fight. He also briefly wondered why the leader of the broken out fugitives did not have her attacked in order like the others.

But though he mused about it, it wasn't his place to ask.

After Noelle Serra had been sent flying into the forest, crashing into several trees in the process, he had thought that the fight was over. Most ordinary humans would have lost consciousness by then, but Serra had gotten right up and walked a few steps before collapsing just a few feet away from where she had landed after she was hit by the attack.

And even then, she hadn't gone down easily.

When Lancia went over to retrieve her, she had stood back up. Pulling back her arm she punched him, sending him flying backwards a few feet into a tree and destroying it.

Then she proceeded to attack Chikusa and Ken.

Ken was still recovering on the ground and had not seen Serra go up to him and yank him up before throwing him towards Lancia.

When she had turned towards him, Chikusa's eyes had widened, if just a little. Her eyes were a brighter shade of blue than he recalled them being earlier and the pupils were dilated, giving her a feral cat-like look.

Those eyes didn't belong to a human.

He didn't get the chance to blink before being sent crashing into the ground where the lens of his glasses broke from the sheer impact of her powerful punch.

But before she was able to do anything else, Lancia's chain like weapon shot out from where she had left him and jerked her backwards into another lamp post, wrapping around her as it bound her tighter and tighter against it while she struggled. Eventually, she stopped moving as she finally lost consciousness from the lack of air, knocked out for good.

"We've completed our mission." Chikusa said, turning away from Ken, Lancia and the possessed Fuuta. "Let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>Done! Whew! This took me a while to complete, but I'm pretty satisfied with what came out. But oh noes, Noelle has been captured by Mukuro! Now what? Believe it or not, this had been pretty fun to write.<strong>

**And remember, leave reviews! I want to hear what you think!  
><strong>


	15. Investigation

**Okay, we're going to have a bit of a character shift in POV here because last chapter, Noelle was captured by the Kokuyo gang (but not before she beat up Ken). Guess who's starring in it? If you guessed Ayame, then you're right! I didn't plan this, but then I saw the chance for some detective investigating play and decided to jump on it. **

**And for Hetalia fans out there, please go and read Legacy of the Aquila. And review! I want to hear your opinions as well!  
><strong>

**Now, for the Disclaimer. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle, Ayame and any other characters you don't recognize from the manga or anime. **

* * *

><p><strong>Investigation<strong>

"Ayame, I remember you mentioning a Serra Noelle once." Kiyomizu Ryou, a tall muscular intimidating man who very few dared to cross said when he entered the living room. His arms were folded across his chest and he was leaning against the doorway.

Ayame was sprawled out on the couch in a lazy manner, using the remote in her hand to flip through various channels. She had finished her homework for the night and was now spending her free time pointlessly channel surfing trying to see if there was anything good on TV. Hearing her father ask about someone she had mentioned in passing about a month ago had her sitting up straight and staring at him suspiciously.

"Yeah, so?" She said, eyes narrowing.

Not only was her dad a police officer, but he was the Police Chief of Namimori. He was the head honcho of the law in their town and one of the few people who was _not _scared of her demonic childhood friend, Hibari Kyoya. In fact, Ayame had her suspicions that her father was proud of how Kyoya kept things in order whenever it concerned any juvenile delinquents. Less work for his men after all and he could deal with the more serious issues.

Her older brother Kazuhiko once mentioned that their dad was probably the one who responsible for Kyoya being a delinquent prefect hell bent on seeking out those who broke the rules. Ayame added that he was also the reason why Kyoya wasn't in jail because she had to admit, no other sane officer would let the prefect get away with half the stuff he did. On a daily basis.

Of course it helped that her father had been the former Hibari Kyoya of Namimori back when he was a high school kid. Except without the tonfas and the catchphrase of "I'll bite you to death,".

But Kiyomizu Ryou, a man who was very dedicated to his job, asking about her strongest rival so far had alarms going in her head. He normally took no interest in her friends unless they were boys, which meant they were possible boyfriend candidates and like hell was he going to let his junior high daughter date anyone until she was at least eighteen.

"Have you seen her around lately?"

"No. We don't go to the same school and I only see her if we bump into each other in the streets." She clicked the off button on the remote and turned to face him. "Why?"

Her dad shot her a stern look which didn't intimidate Ayame in the slightest; she had been dealing with her dad _and _Kyoya for practically her whole life after all.

"If you're asking about her, something's up. You're in your 'Chief of Police' stance."

The man sighed. "We got a call from the someone at her apartment complex concerning her."

Ayame waited; if she waited long enough, she knew that he would talk. That is, if he wanted the answers he needed from her.

"Apparently, the receptionist hasn't seen her go in or out of her apartment for a few days. She's called to see if everything was okay but no answer. They also had someone go up, but the unit was completely empty except for her possessions."

"So she's missing." His daughter said slowly.

"We're not jumping to conclusions." Ayame's dad said, his eyes flashing a warning at her.

"What else am I supposed to say?" She asked in disbelief. "'Maybe she went for a really long walk?'"

"It's possible she could have left Namimori for some other business."

Ayame loved her dad, but the minute he was faced with the prospect of something being unusual he was quick to try and find a logical explanation which in turn would give a logical conclusion. A 'by-the-book' man who was very reluctant to accept anything that was out of his realm of understanding. Then again, he was a police officer.

"Without telling anyone?" She raised both eyebrows; he was practically floundering for answers.

"Alright, fine." Ayame turned away to conceal the smirk on his face. "But you can't deny that it's a possibility."

"Nope. She seems like a responsible person to me."

"How would you know that? You said you fought her once."

"Because I'm good at reading people and she didn't strike me as the type to do something like that." Again, this was because she had to keep her guard up against her dad who seemed to think that she was going to get attacked out on the streets by random boys.

The Chief of Police gave a tired sigh. "The last time anyone saw her was when she left the building at around eleven at night."

Ayame turned back to the TV but she didn't turn it on. Her mind was now a scrambled variety of thoughts as to what had happened to Serra. She fought her and she knew that the girl was no slouch. Not to mention Ayame couldn't exactly picture her skipping town either, much less without telling anyone or taking anything with her.

"Hey, dad?" She finally asked. "Mind if I conduct my own investigation? I'll do all your chores for a month if you let me."

Her dad hated chores. The only reason he did them was because his wife was terrifying when she wanted to be.

"Fine. I have something else to investigate anyways; turns out someone's attacking students that go to Namimori." He shook his head. "First kids running around in their underwear, explosions all over the place and now this? What's next, someone trying to conquer the town?"

Ayame heard about the attacks on students, ignoring her dad's ramblings about how the craziness lately had him working harder than ever. She also knew that Serra was a student at Namimori. Were the two incidents connected?

It was a very strong possibility.

Within ten minutes, she was already preparing where she was going to start her investigation for tomorrow.

0000

Maybe her dad waking her up at six am in the morning when she was younger so that she practiced her Judo and Karate to fend off any possible creeps who would come after her did have its advantages, even if she didn't think so at the time. Because at six, after she placed everything she might need for her investigation as well as several rice balls into her backpack, she set off to the apartment complex that Noelle lived in to do some questioning.

From mystery novels and movies, Ayame knew that playing detective wasn't easy. You had to do questionably legal stuff like breaking entering to go around searching for clues. There was also the fact that people weren't all that willing to tell you the information you needed or purposely lied to you.

Or they could just be freaking jerks who enjoyed making your job miserable.

"Unless you are a police officer, I'm afraid I can't tell you that information." The woman at the receptionist's desk sniffed. "Even if you are the police chief's daughter."

The green-haired girl's eye twitched; they had already been arguing about this for about fifteen minutes and she had gotten nowhere. God, no wonder Serra hadn't been reported missing until after five days; especially with this person around. Why in the world hadn't anyone called her out yet and gotten her fired?

"Okay then." Ayame's gave the woman a twisted smile as she placed her hands on the desk and leaned over towards her; it was time to play hardball. If there was any time she hoped that years of watching police and detective dramas would come in handy, it would be now. "I'm done being nice, so why don't I make a deal with you? Tell me everything you know about Serra and the night she disappeared and I don't call your higher ups to report how much of a lousy job you're doing as a receptionist. I mean, not reporting someone who's been missing for days has got to warrant you getting fired at least."

The woman glared at her but Ayame merely stood up straight, her arms folded across her chest as she smiled confidently at the woman like the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland.

That she do the trick. If not, she really could act on her earlier threat.

Hey, no one said she had to do things nicely.

And after she got all the information she could squeeze from the woman regarding the two boys who had come earlier that day wearing green uniforms and were carrying a letter addressed to Serra, she then asked for the key to Serra's apartment. It was time to do some snooping.

Ayame searched the unit for twenty minutes, but came up with nothing other than the fact that housekeeping was not Serra's forte. Her school bag was thrown carelessly onto the floor and her school uniform was crumpled and lying on top of a hurriedly made bed.

"Nothing unusual here except for the mess," She muttered. When she turned around to step out of the room, she accidentally stepped on something.

Lifting up her foot she saw that it was a crumpled piece of paper. Well, a crumpled and _stepped on _piece of paper now. Her eyes widened as she quickly bent down and she grabbed the paper, unfolding it. She didn't really think it would be that easy, but it was possible that it could be the letter from the boys the receptionist mentioned.

Whatever was in the letter had lured Serra out so late at night, Ayame was sure of it.

Unfortunately, she didn't recognize which school the boys went to but that wasn't very surprising. The woman struck Ayame as the type to not pay attention to anything that didn't concern her.

**_Kufufufu~_**

**_Go to Namimori park at 12 AM if you want Ranking Fuuta to be in one piece. _**

"Or maybe it could be." Did anyone before her even try to investigate the possibly missing Serra?

The Namimori park wasn't that far from the complex. Maybe a fifteen or twenty minute walk? That matched up with the time that the last time anyone had seen Serra Noelle was at eleven at night. A bit early, but if someone's safety was being threatened then it would make sense she'd want to get there on time.

But it was so obvious that it was a trap.

_'She does seem like the type who cared about other peopl_e,' Ayame said to herself, smiling. _'Definitely a high light for her character and another reason as to why she wouldn't skip town,' _

Ayame had a feeling that she wasn't going to find anything else in the apartment. So it was time to hit the park, the next destination to go to according to the crumpled note.

0000

The first thing she noticed once she was at the park were the lamp posts. One of them happened to be indented. Pretty deeply.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Ayame went up to the lamp post with the dent in it and examined it. She fingered the damaged area, wondering what could have done this.

_"I'm so glad they decided to open the park again." _

Ayame's ears perked as she heard someone initiating a conversation behind her.

_"I know. I heard that those vandals not only destroyed all the lights, but several of the trees as well." _

What? The park had been vandalized? When was this?

_"When did it happen?"_ One of the women had unknowingly voiced Ayame's thoughts out loud.

_"Well, the damage wasn't discovered until early Thursday morning so it's assumed it was done during the night." _

_"I hope they find who ever did it!"  
><em>

Thursday morning? At night? There was definitely no doubt that something had happened and it involved Ayame's case. Serra had come to the park at Wednesday night, the park was damaged by 'vandals' around that time and the next day she's MIA.

Ayame turned away from the lamp and went to sit down by the bench. She needed to think things through.

First, Serra gets a note telling her to be at the park at midnight otherwise someone named 'Ranking Fuuta' was going to get hurt. Next day, the place she was called to has been 'vandalized' and there's no trace of the perpetrators.

She decided to search the area where the trees were. It wasn't that hard to find where it was considering that the area had been roped off. When she was sure no one was looking, Ayame slipped past the tape and started searching for any leads.

The girl had to duck several times to avoid being seen, but she mostly crawled along the ground. Checking her watch, she saw that it was seven- twenty eight. She had half an hour and two minutes to see if anything had been left behind to indicate Serra's presence before going to Namimori Middle.

Crawling along the grass, her hand brushed against something that she knew didn't belong there. Whatever it had been, it felt cold to the touch. Reaching underneath the bush, she firmly grasped it in her hands and pulled it out.

She blinked. It was a long metal staff and if Ayame remembered correctly, Serra used a staff as her weapon.

All of a sudden the extended ends of the staff retracted, startling her.

"Okay, that was a surprise." Did she press something?

Ayame ran her hands along the now baton sized staff to try and find a button of some sort that would activate it.

She found the button, but-

"OWW!" Ayame gritted her teeth as she dropped the now fully activated staff onto the ground. Dammit, she should have had the staff facing horizontal instead of vertical.

Agh, this was going to leave one hell of a black eye.

With a grimace, she picked up the staff and headed for Namimori Middle.

0000

"KYOYA!"

The Head Prefect glanced up in irritation as Ayame, his long time friend (something he would never admit, especially to _her_), barged into his office just when he was briefing his second-in-command Kusakabe. The glare he had shot her would have most people running out of the area screaming, but the Midori student wasn't intimidated at all; she had never been scared of him.

But today, he was in no mood to put up with her. Several members in the Disciplinary Committee had been attacked over the weekend to the point that they were hospitalized. Even if the hospitalized members deserved to be defeated for being weak, those who broke the rules would think that the Committee was losing it's grip over them and would likely come out into the open and cause trouble.

And that was unacceptable.

"K-kiyomizu-san!" A startled Kusakabe exclaimed.

"Hey Kusakabe, long time no see!" The annoying girl chirped. "Hope Kyoya isn't making you do all the work while he goes off to enjoy himself."

"Kiyomizu-san." Kusakabe coughed, composing himself. "Now is not the- what happened to you?"

He said this after he noticed that her left eye was neatly bandaged up. This made the Head Prefect raise an eyebrow, but he chose not to comment about whatever stupidity the girl went and got herself into.

She took no notice of him as she walked over to Hibari.

"Kyoya, do you have access to the student attendance records?"

He stared at her.

Sighing she placed her hands on her hips and repeated her words again, but slowly, as if he was a four year old who needed things to be explained to him. "Do you have access to the student attendance records?"

"Why?" He asked, intrigued by her unusual seriousness. It was in contrast to her normal behaviour, which was popping out of nowhere and annoying him to the point that he wanted to hit her on the head with one of his tonfas before she sensed his irritation and ran off.

"I want to have a look at them."

Hibari gave her a level-stare that demanded an explanation as to why he should do that for her when most of the time she was being an annoying omnivore.

A cough from Kusakabe had the two of them turning to face him. He flushed under their stares, but spoke anyways. "Kiyomizu-san, we cannot give you that type of information due to the fact that it would be a breach privacy." He paused, before continuing. "But if you can provide us with a reasonable explanation, we might be able to make an exception."

Ayame looked as if she was about to argue the point, but she realized that Kusakabe was being diplomatic.

Hibari _had_ picked Kusakabe to be be his second-in-command for a reason other than for his impressive physical strength.

"Fine." She sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get anywhere else otherwise. "I want the student attendance record of Serra Noelle from class 1-A."

"Why?" Hibari finally spoke. If it was because so it would make it easier to trace down the student just so Ayame could fight her again, he was going to bite her to death, friend or not.

"Apparently, no one has seen her since she left her apartment building about five days ago at eleven o'clock last Wednesday night. I've gone and checked myself; her apartment was empty and there are signs of no one being there for days, which can be calculated to the time when she was last seen."

There was silence as Ayame gave at Hibari with a 'are-you-happy-now?' stare.

Hibari's second-in-command swiftly moved to the cabinet drawers and searched through a folder. It took him a few minutes, but he eventually found what he was looking for.

"Serra Noelle." He said, looking over the sheet for a quick minute. "Long absences aren't unusual for her and there is also a day she didn't come to school a few weeks ago."

Ayame walked over, snatched the sheet from the unsuspecting Kusakabe and looked it over herself.

"Yeah, but she called the teachers to say she had a fever when she wasn't in class for two weeks and that one day isn't much to go on." She knocked at the paper with her knuckles. "This time though, she didn't call. And as I've said before, there are signs that her apartment's been empty for a while."

"It is suspicious, but can you really say it's something to worry about?"

She sighed. "You're as obstinate as my dad is. But I guess I can humour you."

The two Disciplinary Committee members waited for her to explain.

"You know how the park was closed off for a few days?"

"I have heard about that." Kusakabe nodded. "But what does that hav-"

Ayame cut him off. "Well, the public was told that someone vandalized it. The truth is, vandals did not do that. Some sort of huge fight caused that damage and I know, because I was there not to mention this letter,"

She reached into her pocket and smoothed out the paper she had found in the apartment.

"If you read this, you'll see that she was lured to the park at a pretty late hour."

"What are you saying?" Hibari interjected.

"The 'vandalism' was discovered the morning after Serra was last seen, meaning that at some point during the night there was a battle at the park. And the park is a fifteen-twenty minute walk from where she lives."

She then slipped the metal staff in it's baton form onto the desk in front of him.

"I found this near the area where the trees were destroyed. If you press a certain button on it, it extends into a staff." She muttered something about nearly poking her eye out before speaking out loud again. "Does this look anything like the staff she used when she fought against you?"

Kusakabe moved closer uncertainly to get a better look at it. His uneasy shifting and Hibari's staring at the staff for more than ten seconds was all the proof she needed that the staff, in fact, belonged to the person she was trying to track down.

An awkward silence settled in the office once again as Kusakabe didn't know what to say, Ayame had nothing to add and Hibari just didn't feel like talking in general. Even the second-in-command who relied on logic couldn't find anything wrong with what the Police chief's daughter had presented him.

Kusakabe read the paper himself and frowned. "This letter is likely leading her to a trap."

"But it's also threatening to hurt someone if she doesn't comply."

Hibari's eyes narrowed. Even if he had beaten that omnivore himself, he knew she wasn't someone who would go down that easily. Especially when it came to the annoying weakling herbivores he was forced to put up with on a daily basis.

"...She hangs out with Sawada Tsunayoshi, Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato."

"Same class?"

Hibari grunted a confirmation.

"Thanks Kyoya-chan! I'll buy you a whole bag of burgers after this!"

Such an annoying person...

"Do what you want." He said, preparing his weapons. "I have some business to take care of."

0000

"Hey, you're Sawada Tsunayoshi right?" Ayame asked the tall brown haired boy she recognized from the student photo that Kusakabe had showed her.

She had arrived at the hospital with Kusakabe when they heard that there had been more attacks but they went their separate ways at the entrance. That had been about an hour ago and while it took her a bit of time to track down her target, she eventually found him in one of the hallways with a baby.

While she had been waiting for the boy at the school, it turned out that Kyoya had intercepted him on his way out and had conveniently forgot to tell her about it until an hour later when he had phoned his second-in-command. At that time, the Committee members who hadn't been targeted came to report more attacks on students, some of who were not any of the delinquents that served under Kyoya

"Y-yes!" The boy stammered.

"Nice to see you again!" She smiled.

He stared at her as if she was crazy. But considering the circumstances of having of quite a number of his school mates being hospitalized, she supposed that her cheeriness _was _out of place.

"Is there something you need?" A squeaky voice asked from below her.

Ayame looked down and saw a baby clad in a black suit wearing a fedora. He was holding on to a green thing with yellow eyes that kept transforming every thirty seconds.

"Yeah." Ayame nodded quickly. "I was wondering... when was the last time you saw your friend Serra Noelle?"

"Eh? Noelle-chan?" Another nodded. "Um, last Wednesday? Why?"

"She's been reported missing." Ayame said slowly. "It's been five days since ANYONE has last seen her."

There was stunned silence as the girl waited for the words to register in Sawada's mind. She didn't have to wait long for his reaction. The boy's face paled and his eyes widened with disbelief and horror. His mouth opened several times to say something, but always ended up clamping shut when he found he couldn't put his thoughts into words.

"So something happened?" The baby's hat was tilted forward, hiding his eyes. There was a tiny frown on his face, as if he was contemplating something.

"Yes." Ayame said, her expression serious. "The receptionist from her building called to say that they haven't seen her going in or out of her unit for several days. And the last time anyone saw her was Wednesday night at eleven when she was leaving the building." She paused. "After she received a letter bringing her to the park under threat."

"EHH?" Sawada screamed, attracting the attention of the students who had come to the hospital.

"Shh!" Ayame clamped a hand over his mouth, placing a finger over her own lips to tell him to be quiet. "Not so loud!"

When she removed her hand, he started to stammer. "B-but a-are you sure?"

"She is the Chief of Police's daughter, Tsuna. I do not think she would lie about something like this." The baby turned towards her. "Can I see that letter?"

"Sure." Ayame reached into the pocket of her jeans but found that the paper wasn't there. She patted her jeans but found that she didn't have the letter anywhere on her.

Crap. She must have left it in the Disciplinary Office. God dammit, this was not the time for her forgetfulness to settle in!

"Dammit, I don't have it with me." She reached into her small backpack. "But I do have this."

She took out the baton and handed it to the fedora baby. The baby took it from her and examined the staff, a small frown on his chubby angelic face. He gave the disguised weapon back to Ayame.

"This is definitely her staff. It's constructed from Fortissirum and only the Serafin use weapons forged from it."

The boy looked as if he was about to cry. "Th-this is-!" He gulped, eyes watery. "First Kyoko-chan's brother and now Noelle-chan!"

"Actually, Serra's been missing before the attacks start." Ayame pointed out, but that just made things worst as Sawada looked as if he was about to bawl.

Before Ayame could say anything to reassure the poor boy, she heard yelling coming from behind her and was forced to move to the side as two nurses rushed past them with someone strapped to a gurney. Her eyes widened as she recognized who that someone was; it was the very person she had come to the hospital with, though this time he came in as one of the injured.

"Kusakabe?" She said incredulously.

"That's the vice-chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Kusakabe-san!"

"They say he was attacked as soon as he left the hospital."

Students who had skipped school were saying to each other, panic rising.

Woah. The attacks she had heard revolving around Namimori students was more serious than she thought. Kyoya's trusted second-in-command was no push over and could hold his own in a battle if that was what it came down to.

"You think they are connected?"

"Eh?" Ayame stared at the baby again.

"Serra Noelle's disappearance and the attacks." He stated simply.

Ayame bit her lip. "Maybe. It's a possibility, but the attacks on these students started last weekend. It could be an isolated incident."

"..." The baby's eyes were obscured by shadows. "...I do not believe in such coincidences easily."

The boy paled even more when he heard the other students in the hospital talking about why the incidences hadn't stopped since Hibari had gone off to deal with the problem. Shaking his head, he forced himself to smile. "That's impossible. Hibari-san would never lose."

"Not usually, but I wouldn't say it's impossible."

By the look in his eyes, Ayame could tell that her statement hadn't been helpful.

But it was true. Because Hibari went around terrorizing people left and right by his mere presence and glares alone, everyone assumed that he was invincible in both combat and keeping the trouble makers in line. What they kept forgetting was that Hibari was just as human as everyone else; though with more blood lust than any kid his age should have.

"Take care of Leon." The baby tossed the green... thing towards Sawada before hopping onto the gurney and taking something out of Kusakabe's jacket. It was a golden watch, which he clicked open.

During that time, the green thing with yellow eyes now dubbed as Leon, transformed into a rice cooker.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sawada asked, still holding onto rice-cooker Leon.

"There's no mistake." He said with an surprisingly serious expression on their face. "They're trying to pick a fight with you."

"Eh?" Both Ayame and the boy said at the same time.

"I thought it was a possibility before, but with Serafin Noelle missing that possibility can now be confirmed as a definite."

0000

"So you're telling me this guy is destined to be the Vongola Decimo, the tenth boss of the most powerful mafia family in Italy, the Vongola?" Ayame asked skeptically, sizing up the boy with tall brown spiky hair. "And you're his tutor?"

He sure as hell did not look like a mafia boss. He was too scrawny and he radiated an aura of timidness, running away if he was down to an option of 'fight or flight'.

"Yes."

"You already know who my dad is and you tell me this why...?"

"Would you turn him in?"

Ayame glanced over at Sawada who had a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face as she stared at him. She turned back to the baby.

"No."

It seemed as if the poor kid was being dragged into the whole situation against his will anyways.

The baby smirked. "Exactly."

"So what's the deal with the watch? I can tell it's connected to the attacks on other students." The hands of the golden watch were positioned at four o'clock.

"It's stopped. Is it broken, Reborn?" The so-called mafia boss asked, peering at it as well.

"This watch was from Kusakabe." Reborn reached into his pocket, and took out another golden watch exactly like the one he was holding. "This is the one Sasagawa Ryohei had."

He flipped the cover open to reveal the hands pointing at five o'clock.

"I hear the other ones had watches too. One that was paused at six o'clock."

"Six, five, four..." Sawada counted down.

"It's like they're attacking people based on a list." Ayame pointed out.

"That's right. It's a count down."

Reborn handed the boy a list and Ayame peered over his shoulder.

"Namimori Middle School Fighting Prowess?" Sawada said. "So what?"

Ayame snatched the list away from Sawada so she could look it over herself properly. She was looking for one name in specific and when she couldn't find it, she looked at the top of the list.

The Midori Middle School girl whistled. "Wow, she's just underneath Kyoya." Seeing Sawada's questioning gaze, she explained. "Noelle-chan as you call her is ranked second underneath the demon lord."

And unsurprisingly, the boy flipped out.

"She's that strong?"

"Hell yes." Ayame snorted.

"If you look at the list, you'll see an inconsistency." Reborn pointed out.

Ayame looked over the list again, not quite sure what the baby was talking about. All she saw were the list of students who were capable of holding their own listed in order. She decided to look at the first twelve, since there were only twelve numbers on a clock even though they had a double meaning.

_Sasagawa Ryohei... six_

_Kusakabe Tetsuya... five _

_Gokudera Hayato... four_

Then she thought of the clocks that were found with the latter two. On Sasagawa it had been five and on Kusakabe it had been four. For some reason, the victims had been upgraded a number on the fighting prowess list. But why? It's as if they knew that someone on the original list of top twelve wasn't-

Shit.

"It's likely whoever was responsible for these attacks are behind her disappearance." Reborn voice concluded her thoughts for her.

"EH?" Sawada's scream could be heard through out the entire hospital. Since they had 'disturbed the peace' the two of them were instantly kicked out by security and one pissed off nurse.

0000

"What are you doing?" Ayame asked incredulously as she saw a student from her school come running up to them along with two little kids, a boy with an afro dressed up in a cow suit with a chinese... girl? Boy?

After they had gotten kicked out for being noisy, Reborn told them he had some business to take care of and that they should do some more investigating in the meanwhile on both the Namimori Prowess List and Serra, or Serafin, Noelle. Ayame was all for it but Tsuna had protests to doing something that was possibly dangerous. The baby told her to ignore his student's whining as that was what he did all the time so she just shrugged and dragged him along with her.

At least, until someone launched a net at them that wrapped around her companion and had him falling onto the ground looking like a sushi roll.

"You guys!" He apparently knew who his captors were.

"We caught Tsuna-san!"

"For what reason?" Ayame said, but was promptly ignored as the girl who went to the same school she did focused mostly on the boy.

"I heard that your school is being targeted and is very dangerous. So I thought if _we _attacked you before you get attacked, then the bad guys would leave you alone!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" He yelled.

Did this girl actually go to her school? Sure she was wearing a uniform, but...

"I don't have time to fool around right now!"

"We're not fooling around!"

"Yes, you are." Ayame blinked, still stupefied.

"Haru is serious!"

Ayame had a feeling that this was going to take a while. She sincerely hoped that number four (or number three as the attackers were marking him down as) would be able to fend for himself until they could get there.

0000

_**Several years into the future...**_

_It seemed as if even the heavens were grieving. _

_Ayame found it ironic that she used those words to describe the grey skies and downpour outside, but it was the only thing her mind could come up with. It was raining so hard that they could hear it from inside the chapel. _

_As if the mood was gloomy enough already. But it couldn't be helped; they were saying their final good-byes to a dear friend for the last time. _

_For once, the Vongola Guardians weren't arguing amongst themselves or threatening to hurt someone. This was the first time that they had ever lost someone who was part of their famiglia, even if it wasn't to the dangers of being in the mafia. _

_Gokudera and Yamamoto were standing next to each other quietly with grim and sad expressions on their faces, Ryohei had tears falling down his cheeks which he wiped away occasionally and Chrome's eyes were hidden by her dark bangs. It was hard to see what she was feeling at that exact moment.  
><em>

_Ayame caught the eye of the brunette from across the room and nodded at her. Like her, Yukishiro had learned to accept that their friend's death was inevitable but it still hurt. Even though her expression was blank, Ayame knew she wasn't quite all there either. As to be expected of a ninja, they never let their emotions show.  
><em>

_Several people at the wake were crying, but the younger ones especially; Lambo, I-pin, and even though he wasn't sniffling like the other two were, tears were running down Fuuta's face as he tried to look strong for his nee-san. He was fourteen, the oldest out of the three of them and Noelle had asked him to look after them the best he could when she was no longer around. _

_Kyoko, Haru, Hana and Bianchi were standing by the three growing children doing their best to soothe the pain of one of life's harshest lessons. But like the children, they were having difficulty trying to conceal their own emotions.  
><em>

_Even now it was hard to believe that she was gone. _

_Noelle Serafin, the Guardian Angel of the Vongola Decimo generation._

_And it wasn't just the Vongola who were there; Dino the head of the Cavallone family had also come with his subordinates. Quite a number of his men had shown up with him. They had all wanted to say farewell to her too.  
><em>

_Some of the Serafin also showed up, but their faces were hidden by their cloaks. The one doing the readings were giving them a lot of weird stares, but he didn't say anything about it.  
><em>

_Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the shadowy figure of her childhood friend. Looked like Kyoya respected Noelle enough to show up and brave the crowds he hated so much, seeing her one last time. His arms were folded across his chest and his eyes were closed._

_And finally, Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo._

_It was painful to even look at him. _

_His caramel brown eyes were dull and his face blank. For the past week, he had locked himself away in his room and had to have his food taken up to him with an occasional reminder that he should eat. He wasn't crying, but for some reason that made things seem worse. This was the first time in days he had come out from his locked room.  
><em>

_But even when he did come out, no one knew what to say to him. How did you talk to someone who lost the very person they loved?  
><em>

_When the readings for Noelle had been finished, Ayame went up to the coffin that her body was resting in. Her arms were positioned neatly over her chest, and the expression on her face was so peaceful, it looked as if she was sleeping. In fact, Ayame was almost expecting her to sit up any moment and say that she wasn't really dead.  
><em>

_"Well, looks like this is it." Ayame said softly with a small smile, wondering if Noelle's spirit was somewhere listening to her right now. "I can't believe... I won't be able to see you any more." _

_There was no reply, but then again she wasn't expecting one.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, it didn't even take me two days to do this! But I'm pretty satisfied with the results and it was a nice change of pace from Noelle's POV for a bit even though she's the main character. <strong>

**Would you believe me if Ayame's dad is the whole reason Kyoya is allowed to go around doing what he does? I do. *Snickers* **

**Trust me, he's a good cop but there are a few things about him that are iffy. Such as the fact that he lets his daughter bribe him into interfering into police affairs. By letting her do the chores of the house he's supposed to do. Heh, heh, heh...**

**Okay, I know I have more than seventy people on this alert list so guys... review!  
><strong>


	16. Rokudo Mukuro

**Hah... weeks before I'm supposed to even publish this, I'm already working on this chapter. Wonder why... probably because I finally get to the juicy action parts and who _wouldn't _want to be working extra hard on this? Though on the other hand, I can take all the time I want working on this because I've got over two weeks to do so! Whoo! **

**...yeah, I'm aware of how much time I have on my hands. But it's summer vacation! Ah well, better get started on this so I'm not always rushing, typing up chapters. **

**Warning, this chapter jumps from present to past. At the beginning, she's dreaming. Just so you won't get confused.  
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**To Geniusly-Unique: Yes, this is a TsunaxOC fic, but that isn't the main component of the story. There will be plenty of action too... and drama. Lots and lots of drama.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or any of the characters to do with the franchise. I do, however, own Noelle and the Serafin. **

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><p><strong>Rokudo Mukuro<strong>

_"Ugh... where am I?" Noelle opened her eyes only to clamp them shut again and shield them from the sun that had hit her eyes immediately upon opening them. _

_Slowly opening her eyes, she sat up to find herself in a room with beige colour walls that was definitely not hers. __Hearing beeping coming from her left, she turned her head to the side and found that she was hooked up to an IV drip and monitor. __Looking at her bed, she saw that there were side rails attached to both sides. __In fact, it looked like a hospital bed. _

_"Wait, the hospital?" She said incredulously. "Wasn't I at the park?" _

_She remembered the battle with Ken and Chikusa and how right after she had kicked the former right in the nether regions, he had easily gone down like a sack of bricks. __The moment, unfortunately, had been short-lived when she realized that Mukuro hadn't just sent his two minions but also Lancia as well. __The last thing she could recall was the force of his weapon ramming h__er into trees and seeing a large shape, presumably the Northern Italian mafioso, looming over her. _

_"They took me to the hospital?" She repeated. _

_There was no way. They weren't **that **nice; at least, not yet during the Kokuyo Arc when they were going around incapacitating various students by strength in order to lure out Tsuna for their plans of world domination. __Or was it that they planned on destroying it? She couldn't remember. _

_"Noelle Kennedy, you're finally up." An official sounding tone said. _

_A woman wearing light green scrubs was standing by the door way staring down at a clip board. _

_"Wait, Noelle Kennedy? But my last name is Serra!" She replied, without even really thinking. _

_"Well according to this, your last name is Kennedy." _

_"Uh..." _

_That's right. Her original surname before she died was 'Kennedy'. Had all those years in the KHR-verse nearly made her forget? _

_"Huh, you might have had a concussion from when you fell down. Nasty business, that incident you were involved in." _

_"Uh, what incident?" _

_The nurse raised an eyebrow, but continued in a true professional fashion. _

_"You threw yourself in front of your friend to protect her from being shot. Nearly died for your efforts too." _

_"But I did die!" _

_"No you didn't. Other wise you wouldn't even be here having this conversation with me." _

_Noelle stared. Was what the nurse saying true? Was her really being friends with Tsuna and them all just a dream and that she was back in reality? __Turning away from the woman, she looked out the window. _

_But it all seemed so real... _

0000

Noelle woke up with a gasp, wincing slightly at her blurred vision and throbbing head. It was as if there were a hundred drums in her mind beating simultaneously and she felt close to throwing up. When the room stopped spinning, she tried to get a sense of her surroundings; it was dark and cold. Thankfully, not damp because she didn't want to have to deal with being wet either.

With a sigh, she forced herself up into a more comfortable sitting position. After a few minutes, she found that the best position for her was to stretch one leg out and bring the other one up against her.

Noelle looked down at her shackles with distaste; they really weren't taking any chances with her, were they? Did they really consider Noelle that much of a threat because of her status as a Serafin?

Thinking about the Serafin made her groan and bury her face into her knee. she was probably a disgrace to them. Exactly why did she put up with being beaten for seven years for if she was just going to get kidnapped by the first serious antagonist in KHR?

There were four chains attached to her; two on her wrists and two on her ankles. All of them were connected to a heavy metal ball, making her movement very limited. She could walk, but with these things weighing her down she tired easily.

Shifting her position again made her body throb even more, but that could be expected when she had refused to answer Mokuro's questions again during their last meeting. She brushed a hand against her cheek, feeling her most recent injury.

The deep slash inflicted by one of those creepy Bloody Twins was already healed; another great thing about being a Serafin was the fast regenerative powers. Not super fast that the wound instantly healed within minutes, but depending on how severe it was, it could either be less than a day or more than that. But it also meant she didn't have to go through the slow human process of it taking months or weeks.

The downside was that this gave her sadistic captors a reason to keep ripping her skin open. M.M. and Birds liked being around when it was time for her beating of the day with the creepy twins. Ken usually tried to ignore what was happening, but it was obvious he was uncomfortable with it and Chikusa was either really good at his poker faces or just didn't care.

But she refused to break. Sure, she was being tortured the hell out of, but pain was something she was used to. The only difference between her training sessions and her tormentors was that at least during training, she could fight back.

_'Though it helps that this body is somewhat numbed to pain,' _Noelle thought, staring up at the ceiling. It certainly helped during the interrogations with Rokudo and his lackeys.

0000

_"Have you decided to tell me what I wanted yet?" That smooth, irritating voice asked as blood dripped down her cheeks and above her left eyebrow. _

_Noelle continued to glare at those red and blue eyes she had come to hate during her stay in the abandoned Kokuyo land. She felt the same prickling sensation of when her cheek had been sliced open on her neck and she glanced down to see the retreating cold and clammy grey hand that belonged to one of the twins. They really were hideous with their unnaturally colored skin and twisted limbs.  
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_"My answer's the same, Rokudo." She said grimly. "I'm not going to tell you who he is. But no one's stopping you from finding him for yourself." _

_"Kufufufu," He laughed, intertwining his fingers together while he looked down at her with amusement. "You won't tell me the Vongola Decimo's identity or who his family members are, but you would allow me to go after him?" _

_"Heh." She forced herself to smile. "Hell no. But I can't do much trapped here with you, now can I? Though just so you know, I'm confident he'll be able to kick your ass."  
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_A hard blow to the side of her face sent her crashing to the ground. _

_"Don't talk to Mukuro-san like that!" That was Ken. He was still a little bitter about the humiliating defeat at her hands _and frustrated by the lack of progress when it came to getting vital information from her_ that he let his temper at that moment get the better of him.  
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_"That's not how you treat a lady, Ken." Mukuro scolded him in a light tone, sounding amused. _

_"But Mukuro-san, she said-"_

_"She merely voiced her opinion. One that is incorrect, but entertaining to hear." _

_Noelle fervently hoped that Tsuna would get here fast so that he could smack that smug grin right off his arrogant face. Sure, he'd went through hell and back but did that really give him the right to go around destroying the world?_

_She heard footsteps approaching her and then a hand lifted her head up by the chin and she found herself forced to stare up at Mukuro who was kneeling down on one knee while he maintained her gaze.  
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_"I'm against damaging such a pretty girl, but if you keep refusing me like this I'll have no choice." _

That last comment had not gone over too well with M.M. and after Noelle had been brought down to her cell, the girl had come down to pay her a visit personally.

_"Mukuro-chan is mine, so keep your hands off him!" The red-head screamed, smashing her foot against Noelle's shoulder. _

_Noelle winced as her shoulder crunched underneath the force of M.M.'s foot, but she didn't give any other indication that the enraged girl was crushing her. If she disliked M.M. before, she absolutely despised her now. She reminded her of Angie and the twisted ugly expressions on the face that many people considered to be 'angelic' just like her name sake._

_"You can have him!" Noelle shouted at the enraged girl, her blue eyes flashing. "I'm not interested in him!"_

_But M.M. ignored her and continued to beat Noelle until Ken and Chikusa came down to hear what the source of the noise was. Immediately, they pulled M.M. off her and Ken forcefully dragged the other girl out of the makeshift cell they were keeping Noelle in using one of his animal channels._

_"What a pain," Noelle heard Chikusa's monotone voice sigh. _

_And the next thing she knew, something soft was being rubbed against her face. She tried to move her head to see what the yo-yo user was doing, but after she found that she couldn't, she gave up. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Chikusa was wiping away the blood away from the wounds his ally had re-opened with a white handkerchief._

_"...you look like someone I used to know before she died." Was all he said when he saw her questioning gaze. _

Since that day, nothing like that had happened again. She did notice that afterwards, when Mukuro would interrogate her, that M.M. wasn't in the room. Noelle knew it wasn't nice of her to think such thoughts, but she hoped that whatever punishment M.M. got was brutal. Being kicked in the face repeatedly had hurt a lot.

Noelle heard the door of her prison open and before she could look up, she heard the sound of something being thrown onto the concrete floor.

Her eyes widened; it was Hibari Kyoya. He was unconscious and even though she was sitting a few feet across from where he had been dropped onto the ground, she could tell he was badly injured.

Mukuro's handiwork, that's for sure.

"Now you have someone else to keep you company." Ken snorted before he closed the door again.

Rolling her eyes even though Ken couldn't see the gesture anymore, Noelle crawled over to where Hibari was lying face down. She flipped him over onto his back and dragged him away from the door, propping him up against the wall. She was sure that he would kill her later on for crowding him or something, but decided she'd deal with that when the time came. She had to treat the injuries Mukuro gave him first so that he'd be able to help the others once they got here.

0000

_"Kufufufu, are you up yet?" _

_Noelle groaned as the voice cut through the heavy fog in her mind. She tried to lift her head up, unintentionally sending waves of agony through out her body that made her grimace. Ugh, everything hurt so much that she could barely bring herself to move; something that hadn't happened for a long time ever since she had left the Serafin mansion._

_She blinked several times to try and clear the fuzziness of her vision. It took a minute for it to adjust properly, but once it did she immediately wished it hadn't. _

_Because sitting in front of her was a middle-school aged boy with red and blue hetero-chromatic eyes, his dark blue hair shaped in a 'pineapple' fashion who was staring down at her with interest._

_Rokudo Mukuro._

_"Noelle Serra. Or should I say Serafin?" He smirked. "My subordinates had a difficult time apprehending you, but that is to be expected from someone who is an 'Angel of the Mafia'."  
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_Her breath hitched within her throat. He knew who she was? How?_

_Seeing her startled expression, Mukuro smiled. To most people, it would look charming. To Noelle, it hid the true nature of just how dangerous the person in front of her was. It was like staring into the eyes of a venomous snake.  
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_"How-?" She was about to ask when he cut her off. _

_"How did I know?" He said, finishing her sentence for her. _

_Noelle nodded, her mind too scrambled to form anything comprehend able for her to say. Mukuro was a truly intimidating person, his very presence making her shudder and want to get as far away from him as possible._

_"Easy." He nodded at someone hidden in the shadows, a signal for them to walk forward. _

_"Fuuta!" She exclaimed, recognizing the boy. Angrily, she turned towards the dark haired boy. "What did you do to him?" _

_"You should know that already." Mukuro smirked.  
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_Noelle glared at him but didn't say anything otherwise. She had no idea what he knew of her, only that he had figured out her true identity and had her captured as a result. _

_Instead she imagined herself punching him in the face. _

_"You did something to him. He's under some crazy mind control of yours and he's here against his will."_

_"Mm, close enough. Now do you want me to answer your original question?" _

_Mukuro took Noelle's silence as consent to continue on. _

_"Simple. I knew that the Vongola candidate went to Namimori, but I don't know who he is. Then I happened to something very interesting on the list of students Ranking Fuuta conjured up for me." He paused, as if purposely being suspenseful. "Noelle Serra - Ranked second on the Namimori Fighting Prowess list."_

_"That doesn't explain how you know!" Noelle glared at him."Serra doesn't equal 'Serafin'.  
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_"Impatient, aren't we?" Mukuro chuckled. "But I was just getting to that. Did you know that sometimes the head of a family not only has six Guardians but a 'Protector' as well?" His lips curled up into a smile. "Of course, it didn't hurt that I took a peak at your necklace earlier."  
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_Noelle's eyes narrowed. That was what those from the Serafin famiglia were often called. The Serafin who had been Giotto's, Vongola Primo, Guardian Angel had been labeled as the 'Protector' or 'Watcher' of the first Vongola Generation.  
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_"The mysterious position of the Protectors, those who watch over the head of the famiglia's they were assigned to as well as the Guardians. Both a powerful and cursed position."_

_"Cursed?" _

_Mukuro chuckled. "Every single Protector, no matter what family they were assigned to, have died premature deaths. In fact, only three known Serafin who have been given the 'blessed' position have made it past the age of thirty."_

_There was a mischievous gleam in his blue eye. "But you already knew that, don't you?"  
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A grunt snapped Noelle out of her musing and she found herself looking straight at a pair of grey eyes that promised her a long and slow painful death. The girl gulped at the extremely unnerving stare, but she continued treating his wounds the best she could for the next few minutes before backing away from him.

"Nice to see that you're awake." Noelle said.

Hibari glared at her. "You've been absent for five days without giving notice. That's against the rules."

_'That's seriously all you can say in this situation?' _Noelle's eye twitched. _'And it wasn't my fault that I've been gone for-" _

"WHAT? FIVE DAYS?" She yelled at Hibari, his words finally registering in her head. "I've been gone for five days?"

The boy just glared at her and Noelle wisely kept her mouth shut. She had been gone for that long? Granted that she had been stuck in a dark room with no way to tell time, but five days? She leaned back against the wall.

Five days...

Time surprisingly passed by fast when you were being held prisoner. There was silence as Noelle looked up at the ceiling, wondering what everyone else was doing. Was Gokudera fighting Chikusa? Did Yamamoto come to their rescue when things looked grim? Were they on their way to the abandoned center to confront the perpetrators of the attacks?

Noelle shook her head. She was going to drive herself nuts with all the questions she wanted to ask. So she decided to get some answers from her new cell mate who had been more aware of what was going on outside.

"So when did the attacks start?"

Hibari's eyes narrowed and Noelle made a face at him. "The two who brought me here talk about hunting down people on 'the list'. They've also mentioned that people on the list go to Namimori middle."

The Head Prefect grunted. "Two days ago."

"So that would be..." Noelle paused, mentally calculating the days in her head. "...Saturday? Sunday?"

"Why did they bring you here?" He ignored her question, eliciting another scowl from the blonde.

"Because they wanted something from me." _They wanted to know who Vongola Decimo was._"And no, I'm not telling you what they wanted."

Feeling Hibari's murderous intent, Noelle could only flatly note in her mind that things were beginning to look up. Except for the fact that she had to share a room with someone who hated crowding who would beat her up without so much as a moment's notice, it also meant that the others were coming.

Noelle hoped that they would hurry; she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay in the same room without invoking a certain delinquent's wrath.

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><p><strong>This has got to be my least favorite chapter so far. But this had to be done since you as the readers need to know how much fun Noelle's life in captivity was (note the sarcasm). Anyways, the good news is that I can work on the more awesome parts now!<strong>

**I should update this on Tuesday, but then I thought the faster I load this up for you to read, the faster I can give you the better parts. So it's going to be uploaded today. There's not much action, I know, but it's hard to kick butt when you're a captive.  
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	17. Kokuyo Center

**And now we get back to Tsuna and the others as they officially figure out that the Kokuyo gang was responsible for Noelle's absence and head off to rescue her as well as fulfill the Ninth's request. Yay! **

**There's an important note below concerning my updating progress in the next few weeks, so you might want to read that after you're done reading this chapter.**

**And to the uninitiated, I have a new KHR story out called Fragments of Lost Memories. It's an TsunaxOC fic, but you should check it out if you want.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle Serra as well as the concept of the Serafin. **

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><p><strong>Kokuyo Center<strong>

Where there was smoke, there was fire. And where there were explosions, it was likely that Gokudera would be in the middle whipping out his dynamite and throwing it at various people.

Tsuna raced down the streets with Ayame on his heels as he fervently prayed to the Buddha that his friend and self-proclaimed right-hand man (he wasn't joining the mafia!) would be alright. He would never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to his friends. Noelle was missing, probably because of him.

When he heard an explosion that had been louder than the rest, he forced himself to run faster.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna shouted, relieved when saw his friend sitting on the ground with his back turned towards him.

"Tenth! Why are you here?" He said, surprised and delighted that Tsuna was running towards him. His green eyes narrowed at Ayame. "And what are _you_ doing here?" He growled.

"I obviously followed your 'Tenth'." She retorted. "You know, your being part of the mafia does explain a lot about you."

Tsuna interrupted what would have most likely turned into an argument between Ayame and his friend. They didn't have time for this; he had to tell Gokudera that he was in danger of being attacked by the people who were attacking Namimori students. When he voiced this though, instead of bringing out his signature dynamite and declaring that would take down the threat, Gokudera's green eyes lit up with delight.

"You came all the way here just to tell me?" Gokudera got onto his knees and bowed to Tsuna. "I'm over joyed. I just took him out!"

"Huh?" Tsuna said, eyes wide with disbelief. He did? Then that meant...

"I killed him right over there."

The silver haired boy looked over his shoulder and Tsuna followed his gaze...

...only to see a blackened area that was still smoking. There was no body lying on the ground.

"I don't see anyone." Ayame said, stating out the obvious. "Dead _or _alive."

"Huh? But I swear I-"

"You saved me the trouble."

Tsuna turned in the direction he heard the voice coming from only to back away, his heart skipping a beat and his eyes as wide as saucers. Standing a few feet away from him was a tall boy, his clothes completely in tatters and stained with blood. He wore a white chullo hat that was pulled over his bowed head, his eyes hidden by them.

In each hand he was holding onto a red yo-yo.

"Wh-what?" Tsuna was barely able to choke out.

"He's wearing a green uniform," Tsuna heard Ayame say from somewhere near him.

_EH? _

Kyoko's older brother had mentioned that the guy who beat him up was wearing a green uniform and went to Kokuyo Middle. But Ayame had said she was investigating Noelle's disappearance so why would she be interested in a green uniform...

_No..._

The boy, with his head still bowed down flung the yo-yo at Tsuna.

_'HIEE!' _Tsuna closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain to come.

But it never did. Instead, he was jerked to the side by what felt like a pair of arms wrapping around him and he heard the sound of something slicing through the air.

Tsuna opened his eyes again only for them to widen in shock.

_No..._

_No... No... No... No... No..._

His mind repeated that one word over and over again like a broken record. He closed his eyes and opened them as if that would erase what he was seeing before him.

Gokudera was standing in front of Tsuna; he had used his own body to shield the boy from the attack that was meant for _him. _

"Go-Gokudera-kun...?" He breathed_. _

"T-tenth." Gokudera said, not missing a beat. "Please run."

And as soon as those words left his mouth, the Hurricane Bomber collapsed onto the ground from his injuries. The hands that had held Tsuna back released him and he fell onto his knees, trying to shake his friend awake.

"Gokudera-kun!" This couldn't be happening. All Tsuna wanted was an ordinary life with friends as well as a girlfriend. Instead, his friends were getting hurt and going missing because of the fact he was descended from the first Vongola mafia boss. "Are you alright? Gokudera-kun!"

The boy who had attacked him moved slowly towards Tsuna, his movements hindered from Gokudera's actions earlier. When he finally looked up, Tsuna immediately backed away from him. His eyes were a dark shade of purple and they were eerily blank.

"I'll break you, then take you with me." The Kokuyo student said in a monotone voice as he continued his advance.

Tsun's legs shook as his attacker came closer. He needed to run; he had to run. But even though his mind knew exactly what he should be doing, his body wouldn't obey him and he remained frozen in place.

"Let's get this over with." The boy said, launching a yo-yo at him again.

Before he was hit by the very same attack that took down Gokudera, someone once again came to his rescue and tackled him in the side sending Tsuna and the other person crashing roughly onto the pavement and out of the way of the yo-yo's attack range.

"We've slid over home plate safe and sound." Said a familiar cheerful voice. Tsuna immediately sat up and found himself staring at the tanned, grinning face of Yamamoto Takeshi.

"Yamamoto!" Relief swelled within Tsuna and he could feel the tears at the edges of his eyes. Never had he been so happy to see anyone in his life!

"I was walking by and heard the ruckus." The baseball's player easy going expression turned serious within seconds as he shifted so that he was now staring at Gokudera's unconscious form. His face instantly darkened as he directed his attention at the Kokuyo student.

Tsuna flinched. He had never seen Yamamoto so angry before and frankly, he really didn't want to any time soon in the nearby future. He didn't think that such a laid back and very oblivious person would be capable of anger, but he had just been proven wrong.

Yamamoto was capable of being angry. Very angry.

And it scared him. Tsuna made a mental note not to cross the baseball player.

Ever.

"If you're going to run, do it now!" Ayame shouted. The girl was holding out Noelle's activated staff_, _the other boy's weapon wrapped around it as she tried to tug away the yo-yo from him.

"Hmm?" The Kokuyo boy stared at the staff with interest. "That is... Serra Noelle's staff."

"And how would you know that?" Ayame asked grimly, even though the glint in her eyes said that she already knew the answer to her own question.

Her opponent pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, causing the sun to reflect off them. "I fought against her with Ken. She was harder to defeat than the others, but it was to be expected of someone who is second on the list."

0000

"And why is Hayato being hospitalized here?"

Bianchi stood over her brother's bed holding onto a basket of her special batch of poison cooking muffins, none too pleased that her brother had been injured and that he wasn't being treated by Shamal of all people. She had come in earlier, slamming the door to the Namimori infirmary open so hard that everyone in the room had jumped up and whirled around to stare at her.

"Bianchi-chan!" And out of nowhere Shamal had charged at the beautiful teen with the intent of kissing and feeling her up.

She was prepared for him as she instantly reacted by kicking the man in the face.

"Stay away!" She shouted.

"Is your life always this hectic?" Ayame asked Tsuna, staring at the man who now had the imprint of a shoe right across his face with intrigue.

"You have no idea." Tsuna instantly deadpanned at her.

His life before Reborn had come into it had been mediocre. But even though it consisted of him going to school, nearly failing every subject and being called out on his 'uselessness' relentlessly, at least he didn't have to worry back then about the dangers of being hunted down by anything mafia related.

"It seems fun!" Ayame chirped.

_'What exactly is your idea of fun again?' _

"Even if you did that, his wounds wouldn't heal." Shamal said after Bianchi had declared that she would sit down by the bed and look after her brother.

"True." Tsuna said, his shoulders slumping forward while Yamamoto laughed and Ayame smiled in amusement. It seemed that everyone but Bianchi herself knew that whenever she was in the vicinity of her brother, Gokudera would always almost go down in a dead faint.

Bianchi glared at Yamamoto and asked what was so funny, making the baseball player clamp up immediately. As the boy tried to explain his actions to the older girl who threatened to give him a face full of purple goo, Tsuna looked down at the unconscious boy.

Because he had stupidly gotten in the way, the silver haired boy had been forced to protect him. And it wasn't just him; all those students who had gotten injured and Noelle...

_"We captured her five days ago. But since she refused to cooperate, we had to use our original method to find the Vongola candidate." _

And then the Kokuyo student turned around and left, stating that his companion named 'Ken' would take care of Yamamoto later since he was next on the list.

Five days...

Noelle had been left five days within the hands of her captors and no one had known that she something was amiss until after the receptionist who manned the desk at her apartment had called the police. And even Ayame, someone Noelle had barely known, had realized that something was wrong and had decided to look into the issue.

What kind of a friend was he? He had known Noelle for nearly a year and he didn't even _realize..._

Tsuna stumbled out of the infirmary feeling sick with himself.

0000

"Ah! Tsuna!" The baseball player called after the retreating form of the boy. He was about to after him when he felt himself being yanked backwards by someone.

"Calm down." Ayame sighed. She was the one who had grabbed Yamamoto by the back of his school uniform to prevent him from following his friend. "He just needs some time to himself."

"But-" He was about to protest when Bianchi held up her muffins, indicating that she would throw them at him if he didn't shut up.

Seeing the boy deflate, Ayame sighe again. She knew he had wanted to go to his friend to try and reassure him that things would be alright, but she could tell that Tsuna had wanted to be alone for a few minutes. God knows how many times her dad tried to get into her room when something was up and she just wanted peace and quiet.

"Just give him some time on his own. He has a lot of stuff to think about."

Shamal snorted. "I can't believe he wasn't aware that his prettiest companion had gone missing. I realized that something was wrong immediately." He shook his head. "What is this world coming to?"

Everyone stared at him with looks ranging from disbelief, surprise and rage.

"You're not the one who called the police!" Ayame said, pointing an accusing finger at the doctor.

"I would have if I knew that she was missing!"

"No one knew she was missing until after someone reported that they hadn't seen her in days!"

"You did." Shamal leaned in so close that they were almost kissing. Ayame reacted immediately by performing a high kick that made contact with his chin and sent him flying upwards and crashing onto the floor loudly. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Ayame spoke.

"Oops...?"

"No." Bianchi patted her shoulder as if to say 'good job'. "He deserves that for coming on to a woman so suddenly."

"Bianchi-chan~" Shamal whined, sitting up and rubbing his chin. "You're so cruel."

"But why would they kidnap Noelle-chan?" Yamamoto cut in.

Ayame raised an eyebrow at what she assumed was an uncharacteristic serious expression on his face. Even the foreign Italians in the room seemed intrigued by him at the moment.

"Hmm..." The green haired girl sat down on the stool by Gokudera's bed and crossed one leg over the other, folding her arms over chest with a thoughtful expression on her face. "I think... that baby named Reborn said that Serra's actual last name was Serafin-"

She was cut off by the startled stares of Bianchi and Shamal.

"What?" She asked them.

"Serafin? Serra is actually Serafin?" Shamal's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Such a young and beautiful girl is a _Serafin_?"

Ayame stared. What was with this guy and girls? She had met some men who were womanizers before and had dared to hit on her, but this guy really took the cake.

"Yeah." Ayame nodded. "What's so special about the Serafin anyways? You all act as if one decided to grace you with their presence, you should immediately get on your knees and start bowing down to them."

Shamal sighed. He then turned to Yamamoto who then blinked back at him. "Why don't you go and see if the kid is feeling better? It should be okay to go talk to him now."

Yamamoto nodded and left the room leaving, Ayame alone with the Italians.

"I thought he was part of Tsuna's family." The Police Chief's daughter immediately realized that Shamal had sent Yamamoto out so that they could talk in private.

"He is." Bianchi said, folding her arms across her chest. "But he thinks the mafia is a game."

"He thinks it's a game?" Ayame blinked. "Are you sure about that?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Shamal said. "Since he's a man, it's natural that he is dense. But even dense people know that the term mafia is something you shouldn't joke about. He might be a 'special' case."

He rubbed his stubby chin.

"I would check to see if he needed to see someone but I only treat girls."

How long had he been working here? It must have not been long since no school board in their right mind would allow this womanizer who only treated half the students in the school to stay.

...

But then again, this was _Kyoya's _school and Ayame had yet to see anyone try and expel him.

"Serafin?" Ayame said, getting right back on target.

"The Serafin are intertwined with the mafia while also at the same time they are outsiders."

Ayame stayed silent. She already knew that. Why didn't he just get to the part as to why the Serafin were all powerful and the reason why Serra-er Serafin- was kidnapped?

"They are known as the 'Angels of the Mafia' because of their abilities that are unique only to them."

"Wait, is that the reason Serra is insanely strong?"

"It's a possibility." Shamal sighed.

Huh. Ayame would have to ask Serra about that later on after they rescued her from the clutches of Kokuyo.

0000

Tsuna dragged his feet along with him as he made his way to his house, feeling completely drained. He was amazed that he was even moving, considering how today's events had completely drained him. The Ninth, the man who had chosen him to be his successor, had sent him a letter that said he had to capture some escaped criminals or be treated as a traitor and executed for treason.

After he had walked out of the nurse's office, Reborn had ambushed him outside and stated that there was a report about criminals breaking out of some sort of mafia prison while at the same time, foreign students had registered at a school in the neighboring town. Then he handed him the dreaded letter that dictated whether he lived or died based on his decision.

And guess what the school name was?

Kokuyo Middle.

The brown haired boy could feel a headache beginning to settle into the back of his head. Why him? Why? Of all the people who were possible candidates of being the tenth head of the mafia family called Vongola, why him?

"No matter how much you run, they'll keep coming after you." Reborn's voice said out of nowhere, causing Tsuna to jump. Just how did Reborn keep doing that?

"Reborn!"

"And on top of that, don't forget what they've done to find you." He reminded Tsuna.

The boy's heart sunk. How could he forget?

They beat up Ryohei and made Kyoko-chan cry.

Gokudera had gotten hurt protecting him and was now unconscious.

And Noelle had been captured and since she had refused to give away his identity just so that they wouldn't find him, many of his school mates were being targeted just to draw Tsuna out.

Tsuna could feel resentment, anger, helplessness and fear bubbling up inside him. Why was _he _the one who was involved in all this?

But even though they made him so angry that his body shook, what could he do? He was 'No-good' Tsuna who no one expected anything great from. His grades from PE were dismal and Reborn was expecting him to go to where the Kokuyo students were and _fight _them? Even Hibari hadn't come back yet and he was the strongest person in their entire town (probably).

"There's no way someone who has been called 'No-good' for his entire life can do anything about it." He said, resenting just how powerless he was at the moment. "It's reckless."

Reborn smirked. "But the people around you don't think so."

Tsuna looked up Reborn, about to ask the baby hitman what he was talking about when someone ran up to him.

"Take me with you Tenth!" It was Gokudera dressed in a dark blue shirt and acting as if he was in perfect health.

"Gokudera-kun!"

"I'll bring their lives to an end!"

While that comment was a little disturbing, Tsuna asked about his wounds. Just less than an hour ago he had been unconscious after all.

"Just scratches." He announced proudly though he teetered for a few seconds before Yamamoto came up behind him and steadied Gokudera.

"I'll go too!" The baseball grinned. "I heard it from the kid. You're playing mafia with another school and they've captured Noelle-chan so we have to go rescue her!"

"Count me in as well!" Ayame said, popping up from behind him. "My strongest rival is missing and I can't beat her up if she's gone!"

Yamamoto? Kiyomizu-san? Tsuna blinked completely bewildered by his friends' and the Police Chief's daughter sudden appearance. And Yamamoto still thought they were playing a game? Wasn't he aware of just how dangerous things were, especially after he saw what had happened to Gokudera?

"I'll go too." It was Bianchi. She had come up behind Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ayame when they weren't looking. Gokudera paled immediately upon seeing her face. "I'm worried about Hayato."

And as usual, whenever he saw his sister's face, the silver haired boy collapsed onto the ground.

"I have a feeling that would make things worse," Ayame murmured, voicing out Tsuna's thoughts.

"What was that?"

"You're such a kind and caring older sister." The other girl amended.

"We've got the people we need to charge into enemy territory!" Reborn announced.

"Huh?" Tsuna turned towards his tutor.

"I know where their hideout is. Their captives should be there."

Captives? Tsuna was well aware of Noelle, but the term 'captives' implied that there was more than one person.

"It's someone else you know very well." There was an ominous tone in Reborn's voice when he said that.

0000

"Is that what you're going to use in the mafia game?" Ayame raised an eyebrow as Yamamoto pointed at the wooden shaft weapon that had a curved blade at the end of it that she was holding. She had borrowed it from her mother who seemed happy that Ayame was taking an interest in the art of Naginatajutsu again.

"Uh, yeah." Ayame said.

Yamamoto was a simple but friendly, easy-going guy. That had been her first impression of him but seeing his angry expression earlier with the Kokuyo student, she had to rethink that. Despite 'Yamamoto Takeshi' being a common name, the boy himself wasn't as easy to read as his personality ane namesake labeled him to be. He wasn't dumb, but...

...he was the first one who literally laughed at what normal people would run away from. Like explosions.

Ayame twirled the naginata between her fingers. It felt awkward in her hands and she had to remind herself that she was holding onto an actual weapon and not the wooden ones her mother had her practice with.

Reborn had dismissed them earlier, telling the group to meet after two hours had passed at Tsuna's house before departure. Since Ayame and Yamamoto lived within ten minutes of each other, they decided to walk to their respective houses and then to Tsuna's place together.

Yamamoto had decided to bring some food and making a quick stop at a shop while Ayame bought plastic cups and two sodas in case they would get thirsty during their raid of the enemy fort.

"It looks real." He whistled, impressed by how the sun glinted off the metal of the blade.

She didn't bother telling him it _was _real.

Yamamoto led the way to Tsuna's house since Ayame didn't know where it was. When his mother let them into the house, they went straight up to his room.

"Yo, Tsuna!" He said, making himself known. "Tea and sushi. A little present."

"And I brought cups and soda!" Ayame announced right beside him, holding up her own bags.

0000

Tsuna shivered.

They had finally arrived at the location of where the mafia convicts were supposed to be hiding out at and it was everything he feared and more. The roads were empty and abandoned and beyond the gate were worn down buildings that looked close to collapsing.

But despite the chills he got from this place, it was also... familiar.

When Reborn mentioned that the place had been formerly called 'Kokuyo Center', Tsuna realized that he had come here with his parents when he was a lot younger. It used to have a karaoke bar, a movie theater and a fauna and flora exhibit.

But now the once lively entertainment center was so desolate that he hadn't recognized it at all. And since he had been here before, it was immediately decided that he would be the one who would lead them in.

"If I remember correctly, the exhibit should be around this area." Tsuna said a few minutes later even though there was nothing around them that even closely resembled what he had seen during his childhood.

"There's nothing here." Bianchi pointed out the obvious. "Your eyes are as good as knot-holes."

Tsuna winced at the jab as Gokudera forced himself to rebuke his sister. "Aniki!"

Bending down, Yamamoto examined something underneath his foot that had caught his eye. "Is this an animal print?"

Ayame bent down beside him to examine it herself. "Looks like a dog... a big one." She blinked. "And it's fresh."

"Something's coming." Reborn said.

And in the split second the baby said that, something leaped out of the ground and charged towards them.

Yamamoto jumped back to avoid the shape that had lunged towards him while Ayame stepped to the side and equipped herself with the naginata, running after it and slashing downwards. She got it's arm, but didn't slow it down as it made its' way to the dark haired boy. To Tsuna's horror, the ground beneath the area his friend had fallen back onto collapsed underneath his weight and the earth swallowed him whole.

"Yamamoto!" They all raced towards the hole, peering over it to try and see if the baseball player was alright.

"Tsuna's memory was accurate." Reborn said, joining the group. "The flora and fauna exhibit was buried under the dirt."

Tsuna inwardly gawked. He remembered the building being a tall structure and it was buried underneath the _dirt_?

"Are you alive baseball idiot?" Gokudera called down.

Sitting up from where he had fallen was Yamamoto, clearly alive and well from the fall that would have badly injured someone. When he looked up at their worried gazes, he grinned.

"That was surprising." He said, as if falling through a weakened structure was an everyday thing.

"This is no time to be laughing!" Gokudera yelled.

"Yamamoto!" Tsuna shouted as he remembered that what had attacked his friend had leaped in after him. "Something's down there!"

And as if to back up his statement, an ominous growl came from somewhere in the shadows that surrounded the baseball player.

"We can't do anything from up here." Reborn pointed out. "But Yamamoto might have an advantage since Kiyomizu Ayame was able to land a blow on it."

Tsuna glanced over at said girl to see that she was indeed holding onto a naginata with blood smeared on the edge of the blade. He wanted to ask where she had gotten that from, but at the same time he also didn't want to know.

"I welcome you here, Yamamoto Takeshi." A voice spoke out from the darkness. "Kaki-pi's asleep and I've been bored without any orders."

Someone stepped into view.

"And then along comes my prey." It was a boy with spiky blond hair, his tongue sticking out as he licked his lips. Like the yo-yo attacker earlier, he was wearing a green Kokuyo uniform. "Just when I was about to go hunting."

"It's a Kokuyo uniform." Gokudera growled. "He's definitely one of them!"

"That's already obvious, don't you think?" Ayame raised an eyebrow at him

"You guys up there, are you his friends?" The boy said, finally noticing them. "Just get ready to die, alright?"

Tsuna gulped at the feral grin he shot them.

0000

Yamamoto was able to unsheathe the baseball bat sword just in time as the boy lunged at him, biting down on the metal. The bat that the baby had given him cracked underneath the force, breaking right in two as the blade went flying into the darkness.

"I'll tear out your neck next." His opponent growled.

The baseball player blinked at his now useless weapon in surprise. He'd had the bat for several months ever since that fun training session with the baby, but in a matter of seconds the aluminum had been destroyed.

"I see." Yamamoto sighed. It had been one of his favorite bats too. "So it's okay to beat up your opponents without holding back when playing mafia, huh?"

He stared determinedly at the other boy, unable to help the smirk forming on his face.

"Those are the rules, right?"

* * *

><p><strong>Mmm... I'm well aware of how the ending isn't that good, but I don't think you guys really want to read about what you've already seen in the anime, right? Besides, I can just describe how the battle went in the next chapter. Though I'm going to take a break, meaning I'm probably not going to update for two weeks or more. <strong>

**Oh come on, I've been relentlessly typing out chapter after chapter of the Guardian Angel. You can spare me that much, at least. Right? I promise to get back to writing after I've taken a break and done some planning, because I am not typing out every battle in the Varia Arc. **

**Don't forget to review! Come on guys, I have know I have over NINETY reviewers!  
><strong>


	18. Posession

**Mmm... it's been a while since I typed anything up. Even though it's been nearly two weeks, I haven't really gotten all that far in the planning stage due to a lot of distractions. But after a lot of debating, I finally decided on something. **

**I'm not doing weekly updates any more. This is because before I felt rushed and also because my inspiration for this story is beginning to die down. No, it's not dead but I'm not as enthusiastic in writing the story as I was before. I'm well aware many of you are going to be disappointed, but hey, it's better than stopping production all together right? Though if it'll make you feel better, I don't intend on taking two months just to update a chapter. **

**But if you want something else to read in the mean time, go and read Fragments of Lost Memories. It's a TsunaxOC story, but I promise that isn't the main focus entirely.**

**Or Legacy of the Aquila which is a Semi-AU crossover between Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Hetalia, though don't expect me to update it too much.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I only own my plot as well as any OCs that appear in the story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Possession<br>**

The only explanation that Noelle could come up with was that she was dreaming. Otherwise why could she see nothing but white surrounding her when she has been enclosed a small cramp room for five days? She was even just wearing a white dress. Her eyes traveled to what would approximately be the middle of the room to see a blue crystal sticking out of the ground; the only thing that actually stood out in this sea of blankness.

Wait... blue crystal? She had been here before!

"Hey Noelle, long time no see!" A woman with long black hair and sky blue eyes stepped into her view. It was the angel directly responsible for her trial, Seria. "I see you've gotten yourself in quite the predicament."

That was the understatement of the century.

"You didn't strike me as the type who got kidnapped." Seria paused for a moment. "Actually, maybe you do in appearance. But you have too strong a personality and to abnormal a strength to actually even be considered the type. That Kyoko girl on the girl fits the trope though."

"Well sorry for looking like a damsel in distress." Noelle huffed. "Now tell me why I'm here and what was so important that you had to take me out of captivity?"

Seria raised an eyebrow. "You aren't really here. At least in the physical sense."

"So how am I here then?" Was she dreaming?

The angel shook her head and Noelle knew that she had read her mind at that moment.

"That doesn't really explain a lot."

"That's because you haven't let me explain anything to you yet."

Noelle stared expectantly at the angel, waiting for her to start discussing the details as to why she had been summoned back into the White Room and if her body wasn't really in this place, what was?

"Isn't it obvious? It's your soul."

The blonde's face blanched and she stared at Seria incredulously. She seemed to be doing this a lot lately, but that was what one should expect if they were dropped in a world like Katekyo Hitman Reborn. At least it wasn't Bobobo-bo bo-bo; that series was just plain randomness to the maximum. Noelle probably would have probably rather failed her trial rather than be forced to put up with twelve years of pure stupidity.

"My soul...?" Noelle repeated, still trying to wrap her mind around what the angel had told her. Her _soul_?

"Isn't that what I just said?" The angel sounded amused. "No need for you to repeat my words twice."

"Will you stop reading my mind?"

"No."

She had been expecting that so Noelle hadn't been completely put off by Seria's answer. Though would it kill the angel to at least give her some privacy?

"I do give you privacy. I don't look when you're changing."

"Oh, but you watch me every other part of the day." If it wasn't the other Serafin, it was the angel.

"Pretty much, yes." Seria shot her a look. "Now are we going to stay here and discuss trivial things that you wish to protest about or do you want me to get to the point as to why I brought you here?"

Noelle muttered something under her breath while averting her eyes from the angel's gaze that made Seria smile sweetly at her.

"Alright. Explanation time!" She clapped her hands together as if she was teaching a kindergarten class. "The reason I brought you here is to tell you that the others are going to come and rescue you soon!"

"I know that already."

"And to brace yourself."

Both of Noelle's eyebrows went up. "Brace myself for what?"

"You'll see later on. Just thought I'd give you heads up. And also that you haven't unlocked your true potential to any of the Serafin abilities either but trust me, you will soon." Seria nodded. "Anyways, better put you back in your body before anyone gets suspicious. It doesn't seem like long here, but you've been knocked out for a few hours give or take some minutes."

Before the Serafin could say anything, she found herself blinded by a flash of light and then nothing.

0000

_Ayame imagined herself slashing the old man open with her blade. Instead she was turning her weapon onto the trembling brunet who was understandably afraid. The girl didn't want to do this, but she didn't want to see the two girls on screen getting hurt either, or worse... killed.  
><em>

_Glancing over at the screen Ayame couldn't help but be a little annoyed. You would think that the girls would notice that there was something standing behind them, particularly if it was a grey skinned deformed person with long nails in place to kill them within a moment's notice. But no. They didn't seem to notice any of the danger that they were in. _

_Though she shouldn't have been surprised that one of them was the brunette who went to her school; she seemed a little spacy if earlier was anything to go by.  
><em>

_Honestly, she would have been banging her head repeatedly against a brick wall if the situation wasn't so dire at the moment and she was left with the task of running Tsuna through with her Naginata._

_"What are you waiting for?" The old man known as Birds asked as she turned to glare at him. _

_"Give me a minute!" She said with narrowed eyes. "You're asking me to stab someone!"_

_The man giggled and Ayame shivered. Oh god, she knew she was supposed to respect her elderly as her mother had continuously tried to bully into her head but she was sure her traditional Yamato Nadeshiko parent wouldn't mind if she hurled the old man out of a two story window. Or three. _

_"You don't have much time." The old man tutted. "But I don't mind if you choose to stab him or not. At least I can kill these girls if you don't comply with my wishes unlike that girl Mukuro brought in earlier." _

_"'Brought in earlier'?" _

_"A Serafin." Blood trickled down from Birds' nose as he looked nostalgic. "But she wasn't very fun. No matter how much we hurt her, she wouldn't scream or cry or beg."_

_Screw being nice to your elderly. This old man deserved to die._

_But she would have to find a way to avoid stabbing the future Vongola Decimo first before plotting out what she was going to do to the guy who was forcing her to stab an innocent._

_Fortunately for all parties involved, the baby tutor had predicted something like this happening before they came to Kokuyo and had called on help from outsiders. One was the perverted Doctor Shamal who was no doubt doing it for the ladies and the other help came from a Chinese girl well versed in martial arts and a handsome but useless boy around her age who seemed content standing around while his friend did all the work._

_And since danger to the girls' lives was averted, the party could now take out their anger on Birds. _

_Which Ayame and Gokudera gladly did. Birds was very lucky that Ayame decided to use the blunt side of her weapon rather than the blade._

_Of course getting closer to their destination wasn't going to be easy as they were left to face a giant behemoth who called himself Rokudo Mukuro, the leader of the Kokuyo gang. He looked older than a middle school student, but an opponent was an opponent. _

_He easily knocked out Yamamoto, leaving the baseball player out and down for the count for the rest of the day. And even after they beat the man (Ayame got to see the famed underwear boy in all his glory) they discovered that he wasn't the true ring leader of the Kokuyo gang they were after._

_So they were pretty much back to where they had started except with two less members, Ayame staying behind to make sure that Yamamoto would be alright after Tsuna had asked her and Bianchi threatened to use her poison skills if she didn't comply.  
><em>

0000

Unlike the other times when she woke up after being captured, Noelle felt refreshed. Her body didn't ache any more and her stomach wasn't grumbling from the lack of proper nourishment she had been suffering through the last few days. She opened her eyes only to clamp them shut again seconds later as she saw something that would have definitely warranted a beating not from Mukuro but Hibari.

While she had been passed out and talking to Seria in the White Room, the prefect had went and gotten himself a new friend. Actually, two friends since she had not only seen one fluffy yellow bird perched on his shoulder, but two.

As she continued to feign unconsciousness, she had to use her other senses to determine what was going on. In this case, she was using her hearing.

Noelle recognized the tune being the school anthem and the girl had to force herself not to even so much as to _smile. _She bet that she was in a one million yen moment; listening to _the _Hibari Kyoya hum a song to two adorable yellow birds.

She would have continued playing dead to the world had she not felt something peck her cheek hard.

"Ow!" Her eyes flew open as she felt something brush the side of her face and fly down beside her. Hibari stopped humming and looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

Rubbing her cheek she glared down at the offender who was looking at her with an innocent expression.

It was one of the yellow fluffballs that Hibari had been singing to, but Noelle could tell that it wasn't the future Hibird. For one thing, it had black markings on it's little face that made it look like it was wearing a Zorro eye mask.

And for some reason it was looking up at her expectantly.

"I dub you Zorro." She finally said after a few minutes. She had to admit, the resemblance between the bird and the spanish outlaw she had named it after was pretty striking. Even though Zorro meant fox in it's native tongue and an actual fox would probably gobbled up the cute birdie up in a flash.

The bird chirped and then flew up onto her shoulder to nuzzle itself against her cheek.

Noelle couldn't help smiling. Apparently she now had a new sidekick. A fluffy new sidekick.

It was like having her very own Gilbird! Or Hibird or whatever else other names _creative _people could think of.

While she happily imagined how useful a sidekick could be from delivering messages and to annoying the heck out of Gokudera, she was snapped out of her musing by the sounds of fighting on the other side of the wall she was leaning against which had. One glance at Hibari told her that he wasn't aware of it (considering it was a CONCRETE WALL that wasn't surprising... wait, then why could _she _hear?). Looking around their small imprisonment cell, she mentally calculated where the Hurricane Bomber's attack was going to hit so that neither she nor the demon prefect from hell would be crushed by falling debris.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hibari flick his finger and Hibird fly off. It chirped and her newly named Zorro followed after it with a chirp of it's own.

Getting onto her feet, Noelle walked to the back of the room that the Prefect was propped against and sat down as far away as she could as possible all the while making sure she was out of the explosion range.

"...your chains." Just when Noelle was about to close her eyes and rest before Gokudera came to their rescue, Hibari decided to initiate a conversation.

"These?" Noelle raised her left arm that showed a shackle attached to her wrist.

Hibari grunted and the girl took that as a 'yes'.

"My jailors put these on me because I gave them hell when we were fighting." She gestured to the other shackles. "As you can see, they didn't want to take any chances."

Though they had good reason not to considering that if they hadn't attached the dead weights on her, she would have definitely run off the first chance she got. Not that she would have gotten very far since someone would have probably noticed that she was gone and send someone after her.

The awkward moment with Hibari staring at her and Noelle ignoring his stare was interrupted by a miracle.

Well if an explosion could be counted as a miracle anyways.

0000

Birdie Four and Zorro were on a mission.

A mission that meant finding a way to free their new owners from their imprisonment after their previous one named Birds had been beaten up by a silver haired bad tempered youth and a dark green haired girl as announced by the others who flew off for a new life that didn't have them subjected to a whims of a very sick minded old man. Just because they were birds and couldn't master the full language of humans didn't mean they were stupid.

Four was all up for leaving with the rest of their friends, but Zorro wanted to go and check on the human girl that the old man and his acquaintances enjoyed beating. He was curious at how her gaze had never broken like the others despite pain she had probably been forced to go through. Not to mention that there was something different about her presence. The masked bird could sense that she differed from other humans and it puzzled him very much.

So after a lot of angry chirping between the two of them, Four finally decided to come with Zorro but with the promise that they would leave straight away after wards.

That had been the original plan anyways...

Zorro chirped to itself in amusement when he remembered what caused Four's change of heart.

They had found the place the people put the girl in and were surprised to find that there was someone else with her. It was a dark haired male with pale skin who was obviously badly hurt. This made Four curious, so he swooped in a little closer to examine the boy only to find that he wasn't unconscious as they originally thought he was.

Despite his scariness at first he seemed to have a gentle side. Four couldn't help but warm up to him; he never liked the old man anyways.

Zorro would have made fun of him but then he saw the girl awake for a moment even though she pretended to be asleep. So he decided to be nice and go wake her up.

And that was how Zorro got his new name.

As they flew through the building to try and find someone who could help, they spotted a silver haired boy falling down the stairs. He seemed to be in trouble. They would have flown off to try and find someone else who wasn't as occupied had Four not smacked Zorro on the head and pointed out where the boy had finally fallen.

Then he starting singing that song the boy had been teaching him earlier.

Zorro wondered what his friend was up to. As strange as he could be sometimes, singing out of the blue like this was something new even for him.

Then when the boy tossed what looked like a stick on fire at the wall they were perched on, Zorro figured out what had been Four's impromptu plan and chirped at him that he was a genius.

0000

_'My body... it won't move.' _

Gokudera was not only in pain, but frustrated as well as he finally landed at the bottom of the stairs finally rendered unable to move like Shamal had warned would happen later on.

The silver haired boy had been well aware of the risks of the pill and even though Shamal had happened that the capsule would likely stop working during an inconvenient time, he had taken it anyways. He was the right hand man of Vongola Decimo and nothing would stop him from being by his side; especially such shallow wounds.

He said this to his former teacher and the man just sighed and shook his head stating that he hadn't changed at all since Shamal had left. But he gave him the pill anyways and stated that it was his life and he was free to do whatever he wanted with it.

As Gokudera tried to force himself to move, he saw two fluffballs of bright yellow fly above him and then perch onto a wall.

"Beaten! Beaten!" One of the fluffballs of yellow had the audacity to announce in it's annoying high pitched voice

Damn it. Even one of those perverted old man's birds was laughing at him? Was this the end for him? How could he even call himself the right hand man of the Tenth if he was stopped right here?

The bird started singing.

Gokudera paused in his thoughts of anguish as he listened. The song it was singing sounded quite similar to... wait... it _was _the Namimori middle school anthem. In fact, hadn't he just heard it on the bastard Prefect's discarded cellphone earlier? Why would the old pervert's bird be going around singing that?

When he opened his eyes he spotted something lying several feet from him. It took him a few seconds since he was staring at the object upside down but he realized that it was a tonfa. It _had _to be that guy's, no doubt. Looking at the yellow birds who were watching him with expectant little beady eyes, he smirked.

Was that what they were trying to tell him?

Slowly Gokudera reached into his shirt and retrieved a stick of dynamite.

He didn't have much time as those two Kokuyo boys had noticed his movement and were getting closer to him. But instead of throwing the explosive in their direction, he used what strength he had left and flung it backwards at the wall where the tonfas were. As soon as it went off, the area around him and his advancing opponents was shrouded in dark smoke.

"Watcha aiming at?" The spiky blond who he dubbed Beast Boy shouted, thinking that he had gotten his aim wrong.

Gokudera smirked. They had no idea what they were in for, did they?

Chuckling, he said towards where the wall used to be, "You're the only one who likes our school song that much."

The smoke died down and it revealed what had been hiding on the other side of the wall. Sitting up with his head down and his leg stretched out was Hibari Kyoya, a roughed up from no doubt going up against these lunatics. And sitting close to him was the missing member of their famiglia, Serafin Noelle.

"A bit flashy for my tastes but it works." Noelle stated as she got on her knees and crawled to where the wall used to be, reaching out and grabbing a piece of fallen debris that she started smashing against one of the chains attached to the shackle on her wrist.

"You two look well." Gokudera said.

"Better than you, it seems." Noelle said as she finished smashing the chain and then moved onto the next one.

Beast Boy laughed. "So this half-dead guy and this chained down girl are your reinforcements?"

"This 'chained down girl' kicked your ass even though you completely blind-sided me in the end." Noelle rolled her eyes, not bothering to look up as she worked on finally freeing herself from her restraints.

Beast Boy scowled at the girl who wasn't even sparing him a glance and Gokudera smirked at the off hand way the Serafin was dealing him. It seemed there _was _someone was able to put the arrogant pissant in place.

Hibari grunted, drawing their attention towards him. "I could have gotten out myself, but..." He stood up. "This works."

He smirked at the Beast Boy and the Yo-yo user.

"Leave those two to me."

"Do as you wish." Gokudera stated.

"Men." Was all Noelle said as she continued smashing.

The yellow bird that had sung the Namimori Middle anthem landed and perched on Prefect's shoulder while the other one landed on Noelle's. Beast Boy laughed, mocking the two taming one of their fellow companion's pets.

"Then I'll have them." Hibari said, taking the silver haired boy's words as consent to beat the hell out of them and ignoring Noelle completely.

Beast Boy taunted him again before inserting a set of fangs into his mouth. Before them his hair grew longer and turned a red colour just as fur covered his limbs and his hands grew bigger, resembling actual lion paws.

"Lion Channel!"

Hibari seemed amused by the change rather than frightened. "Are you a little puppy?"

"Quiet, you duckling!" His opponent shouted as he rushed him.

Using his feet, Hibari flipped his tonfas up and caught them just when Beast Boy was in attack range. With the skill of an experienced fighter he immediately swiped at the lion mode boy. His first attack missed but with one quick step he was able to turn around and have his second attack connect with his opponent who no doubt was going to use the advantage of Hibari having his back turned to him.

But Hibari didn't stop there as he used his other arm to send Beast Boy up onto the second floor and crashing out of the second story window.

"Ken!" His Yo-yo user companion shouted.

"I'll bite you," Hibari stated, advancing towards the second boy. "To death next."

0000

"You really are merciless." Noelle sighed.

She had just moved onto destroying her third chain when she heard a loud crash preceded by a thump and Chikusa falling down the stairs. While she didn't mind Ken being thrown out the window so much, she felt a little compassion for the Yo-yo user who had treated her wounds courtesy of M.M..

"And where the hell have you been woman?" Gokudera demanded. "You made the Tenth worry!"

"Excuse me?" Noelle retorted, glaring at him. "In case you haven't realized it yet, I've been here the entire time since Thursday."

She emphasized her anger onto the third chain, breaking it.

"Besides, don't you have better things to do such as making sure Tsuna's going to be okay?" Noelle looked at Hibari. "You mind helping this half-dead guy get to the top floor? I'm sure Rokudo's there and you can beat a rematch out of him."

Noelle made sure to especially mention the last part. Hibari was no doubt wanting to bite Mukuro to death for his humiliating defeat and she wasn't going to stop him. But first she had to make sure that he would at least bring the Hurricane Bomber with him.

"What about you?" Gokudera asked as Hibari lifted up the boy, distastefully supporting him to return the favor of being freed from the jail.

"I still have to smash this stupid chain." She gestured to her fourth and last restraint. "I'll catch up with you later."

Rolling her eyes as the impatient Prefect dragged Gokudera off with him and disappeared up the stair case, Noelle flung away the piece of debris she had used to destroy three chains and picked up a new and much sharper piece. Just as she was about to deal the final blow to the chain, her hand stopped suddenly in mid-air.

Noelle stared at her immobile hand as she knew she was sending out the command to smash the chain. But her arm was refusing to listen as it trembled from both her attempting to force it down and whatever was preventing it from moving.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Guh..." Noelle dropped the debris piece in favor of clutching her head as it started pounding, the pain increasing with each passing second. Her head began to spin and her vision flicker. She gagged as if she was going to be sick.

What was going on?

_'Was this what Seria was warning me about?' _Noelle grimaced, reaching up into the air. What she was reaching for, she had no idea. The only thing she was aware of was that she was fighting off an invisible force off and losing badly.

Finally the burning feeling died down and she was back to normal again.

Er... not quite.

Her vision seemed a bit different than before, as if she was looking through a pair of glasses. And that wasn't the only thing that was weird either; her hearing was a bit fuzzy and her body... it was, well, it didn't feel like her body.

It was like she wasn't in control of herself any more; as if she had been forced to take a back seat while someone took over the steering wheel and started driving.

_"Kufufufu~" _

Noelle looked around slowly, wondering if someone was playing some sort of joke on her. That _voice _sounded a lot closer than it had any right to be. Was he beside her or something? But that was impossible... he was supposed to be fighting against Tsuna.

_"While it seems that the Second Realm has no effect on you, the Sixth Realm does. The Realm of Heavens... ironic, isn't it?"_

The blonde could only watch as her body turned of it's own violation and began walking up the stairs while dragging behind her right leg that Mukuro hadn't bothered to let her free.

0000

"Reborn, take care of them." Tsuna said, his calm orange eyes flickering towards his tutor as he lowered both Gokudera and Bianchi onto the ground after finally knocking the two of them out without causing any harm.

Unlike Dying Will mode, Hyper Dying Will Mode allowed Tsuna to bring out his inner calm fighting spirit, which would explain his unfazed expression as well as lucid orange eyes that differed greatly from Dying Will. The only similarities between the two modes was the flame being produced at the front of his head.

"Don't be so bossy." The baby retorted, but went over to them anyways.

Tsuna nodded at him before standing up and glancing over at the shadows where Mukuro Rokudo's presence was the strongest.

The boy was amazed at just how powerful was at the moment. Calm and warmth washed over his body and senses and it felt as if he would be able to win this battle, contrary to his beliefs much earlier.

No.

He _had _to win this battle. There was too much at stake.

"Come on out, Mukuro. You're alive, aren't you?" He stated in the monotone voice that came with being in Hyper Dying Will Mode.

There was a dark chuckle as the mentioned person stepped forward and revealed himself.

"Hmph. I will acknowledge that your fighting senses escalated greatly." He said. "However, I can't have you becoming elated just because of that. Have you noticed that there is one of my six paths I have not used yet?"

Mukuro smiled.

"But before that, I believe someone else who you've forgotten about wants to see you."

Tsuna frowned, wondering what the boy was talking about when he heard it. From the direction Gokudera and Hibari had arrived from earlier, he could hear the sound of rattling. It was getting closer with each passing second. He concentrated his Hyper Intuition on the source of the noise only for his orange orbs to widen and then harden into anger as he turned towards his opponent.

"MUKURO!" Tsuna snarled.

A few seconds later someone stepped out from the shadows of the door way.

Reborn frowned. This battle was going to be harder than he had anticipated.

Because standing by the entrance was Serafin Noelle who was under the control of Mukuro_._

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><p><strong>And I am done. Wow, I wrote up over 2000 words in one day just to get this done for you. So if you know what's good guys... review. <strong>

**As I've mentioned, our favorite Serafin has been taken over via Realm of the Heavens. Yes, Realm of Ghosts doesn't work on her but Realm of the Heavens does. Take really important note of that. **

**Okay, I'm fully aware of the insane amount of people watching this story. It's teetering to the first hundred so I would appreciate it if you**** would review. ****And if this is your first time reading it, review anyways!**

**And finally, we get to see Tsuna's Hyper Dying Will Mode! At least in this story. Are you finally happy? Alright, just so you know this is the second last chapter of the Kokuyo Arc. Next chapter, I'm wrapping things up and we're dealing with filler again. Ah well, it would be nice to take a break from all this fighting, ja?**_  
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	19. Taken Over

**Ah, I'm typing this story up just a day after I said that I'm not doing weekly updates anymore. Then again, I never complete chapters on a single day either and each chapter I type seems to be getting longer, so yeah. **

**Just thought I'd put this at the beginning of the chapter for the first time: I really love reading your opinions on what you think of each chapter so if you have the time, leave a review. **

**Anyways, I thought I should reply to your reviews. I've got quite a few here!  
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**Smile. Smile. Twitch: **Yup, she's under the pineapple's control! You'll see how she deals with it in this chapter!

**KarinMaaka07: **Glad you liked it! And you'll see what happens in this chapter!

**10th Squad 3rd Seat: **The guy's annoying, isn't he? And Zorro is now Noelle's own personal sidekick!

**starred: **I hope Noelle snaps out of it too.

**WinterLily24: **Thanks! I appreciate you reading this story! Don't forget to review this chapter as well!

**Colbub: **You'll see why Realm of the Heavens is going to be ironic later on. BTW, your latest update just gave me an idea as to how the next chapter is going to go!

**hiyomi: **Unfortunately, not even Noelle isn't immune to having her body hijacked.

**tsukinoyume11: **Thanks. I love messing with Alternate Universes!

**sunstar13: **Tsuna is definitely going to have his hands full fighting Noelle, that's for sure.

**Rei: **Hmm... I don't mind. Just give me the link to the story on Quizzaz, okay?

**Ic3Yuki: **Well I did mention that the basis for this story was MHJ. But I plan on writing out this story differently.

**Life. Is. A. Ray. Of. Sunshine: **You would think that Tsuna should have realized that Noelle was MIA. Guess her fighting him is his comeuppance for not realizing.**  
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**Okay, I'm done. Onto the story now. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to the KHR franchise but I do however own Noelle and the concept of the Serafin.**

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><p><strong>Taken Over<strong>

No one liked not being in control of themselves.**  
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So naturally Noelle wasn't pleased that her body was being hi-jacked and likely used against Tsuna to make Mukuro's job of taking over the Vongola candidate's body much easier. She voiced this fact as well as her opinion on this to the pineapple haired boy very loudly and verbally. Not that she had much ground to back up her threats on what she was going to do once she had control over herself again since whatever part of her (soul? Mind? Consciousness?) had been shoved to the side while Mukuro moved her like a puppet on strings.

She would have continued using every derogatory word she had ever learned in her former life, but realized that after ten minutes of screaming until her throat was dry that she was getting nowhere and Mukuro was just blatantly ignoring what she was saying to him anyways.

With great reluctance, Noelle forced herself to watch through her now Third POV eyes (or was it first or second) as she got closer and closer to the room Tsuna, Mukuro and the others were in. She wasn't able to determine which room it was, but she could tell that it was nearby since she could hear the sounds of fighting.

With each slow step her body took (Mukuro still hadn't removed the weight from her leg but she wasn't going to tell him that) the fighting got louder and louder until it suddenly stopped and was replaced by the murmurs of talking.

_"Reborn, take care of them." _That was Tsuna but his voice sounded a little different. Deeper and more mature. Also very calm?

Did this mean Tsuna was in his Hyper Dying Will Mode?

Noelle squealed like any Katekyo Hitman Reborn fangirl would in her situation. Tsuna was finally in Hyper Dying Will Mode! She had been waiting for this moment for a long time; she liked the normal Tsuna very much (he was just huggable) but she wanted to see what the orange eyed version of him would be like as well.

She would have continued fantasizing about it except for one teensy little problem:

Mukuro was using her for his own nefarious plans of destroying the world as they knew it.

As Noelle got closer to what she presumed was the room, she found herself listening in (like she had much of a choice since for some reason her hearing had been more sensitive lately) to a daunting conversation between Tsuna and Mukuro.

_"Hmph. I will acknowledge that your fighting senses escalated greatly."_ It was that stupid pineapple haired idiot. _"However, I can't have you becoming elated just because of that. Have you noticed that there is one of my six paths I have not used yet?"_

It was the fifth realm; the Realm of Humans.

_"But before that, I believe someone else who you've forgotten about wants to see you."_

"WHAT?" Noelle screamed in outrage even though no one but her could hear. "Mukuro, you bastard!"

_**"Kufufufu~" **_Must. Remain. Calm. _**"But I thought you wanted to see your friend again?" **_

The innocent tone he used just made her want to punch him in the face. She didn't care if he was going to be Tsuna's Mist Guardian and was a lot more tolerable later on; right now as well as the past five days, he had been nothing but a bastard.

"I don't want to see him like this!" Noelle retorted. "You think I'm stupid enough to have no idea what you're up to?"

Like with Gokudera, Bianchi, Ken, Chikusa and for a short while Hibari, Mukuro was probably going to pit her against the very person she was supposed to be watching over whether she liked it or not. By now, Noelle knew Tsuna well enough to know that he wouldn't be able to go all out on her even though she was going to be attempting to stab him with a trident or at least holding him down and having Mukuro himself stab Tsuna with it.

And Noelle wasn't going to just watch it all happen.

Which meant she'd have to somehow break Mukuro's hold over her.

Now the only thing she had to figure out was how she was going to do _that. _

0000

Tsuna winced as Noelle's foot skimmed his side. He was well aware of Noelle's strength, but what he didn't know was just how _strong _she was. He had completely underestimated her.

_"Guh!" _He grunted when she grabbed his shoulder and rammed him into the wall.

"N-noelle..." He tried to shove her away from him, but she held on tightly.

Tsuna had planned on taking her out the same way he did with Gokudera and Bianchi; by simply knocking her out with a well aimed blow in the stomach. But when he had gotten within striking range, she had stopped his punch with one hand.

With the weight attached to her leg, relying on speed to subdue him was an option. The only way she'd be able land a hit was if he got close enough. But Tsuna could knock her out before she even got the chance.

At least, that was what he originally thought until she caught the attack without so much as a sweat.

"Dame-Tsuna, you underestimated her."

Tsuna frowned as Noelle started crushing his fist. Reborn didn't need to tell him that. He already knew._  
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0000

The puffball in front of her chirped in agitation as Ayame followed after it, questioning herself as she did so. As flexible as she was when it came to situations (the dangerous and exciting kind especially), this took the cake so far.

She was following a yellow _bird. _

The girl had been sitting next to the propped up unconscious Yamamoto when the yellow fluffball had come barreling right into her. At first, when it tugged on the strands of her hair she, she tried to ignore it. Then the creature hopped on to the top of her head and started pecking her until she tried to shoo it off.

It was a persistent little creature as it wouldn't stop pecking her until she finally stood up and started chasing it. This went on for two minutes until she realized that this was exactly what the bird wanted.

It was kind of embarrassing to be tricked by a fluffy chick, even if it was ridiculously adorable.

But as she ran, she could hear sounds of struggle coming from one of the rooms. She slowed down so that her footsteps wouldn't alert the the... enemy to her being there and made her way to the sounds. When she was near the last few doors of the hallway, she had to peek in each room to see if that was where the fighting was coming from. After peering through the second door, she snuck towards the third and final room in the hallway and snuck a look in.

Even though it was a quick glance, she saw the unconscious forms of Gokudera and Bianchi. Reborn was standing close to them, most likely making sure nothing happened to them as two other people fought in the middle of the room with a third watching in amusement. What was unusual about the situation (other than two of the original group lying on the ground unconscious) was that the ones fighting in the middle of the room were Tsuna and the missing _Noelle. _

Tsuna's normally brown eyes were now a vibrant orange and there was a flame flickering at the top of his head. At first, she thought that he was in what the baby called 'Dying Will Mode' but this version of him was completely different from what she saw when he was fighting against the huge guy with the chain and ball weapon.

What tipped her off was that he was fully clothed and not running around in his underwear like he had been earlier. The second thing was his calm, level gaze and how much more serious he was.

She would have reminisced on this more, but her attention had been grabbed by the one who was fighting him and attempting to smash his head in.

Ayame knew that something was up and the boy with red and blue eyes had everything to do with it. She couldn't imagine Serra picking a fight with anyone, much less one of her friends. And if it was a forced against her will thing where she had no choice but to deck her friend, she wasn't holding back at all.

"Tell me Tsunayoshi, how does it feel to have your own Protector pitted against you?" The boy with the red and blue eyes chuckled when the palm of Serra's hand made contact with the boy's chin, sending him flying upwards.

0000

_"Noelle, snap out of it!" _Tsuna said, his gloved hands gripped her own to prevent her from sending him flying like she had just did five minutes ago.

"And what," Noelle said as she watched herself try to crush his fingers, "do you think I've been trying to do the entire time?"

Even though he didn't realize it, the fight was in Tsuna's favor. She was being weighed down by what had to be a twenty pound ball made entirely from lead and her body was suffering from malnutrition (she hadn't had anything for _days..._).

Noelle knew that she was in an anime (sort of) and all, but did it really have to go in that direction? Her body had been hijacked and was now being used to beat up Tsuna so that he wouldn't be able to put up much resistance once Mukuro got his trident out and stabbed him with it so that he'd be able to possess the boy. And now he was (predictably) refusing to fight all out against her.

But when she thought about it, a question of her own had popped up.

Was it necessary for her to be stabbed with a trident in order for the Sixth Path to work on her? And if she did have to be stabbed or scratched by the cursed weapon, when exactly did it happen? Because going through her memory, she didn't remember even being touched by the trident.

**'Probably when I was unconscious.'** Noelle thought. **'Sneaky Mukuro, very sneaky.'**

She lifted up her leg and smashed her knee into his side. Tsuna grimaced, but refused to let go of her hands.

Her left hand then released his and slid out from his grip before balling up into a fist and striking him in the stomach. Then she released his other hand and grabbing his arms, flipping him over so that he was on the ground with her on top pinning him down.

Noelle blushed as he tried to push her off, but it was futile since most of her weight was concentrated on his torso and did she mention that annoying super strength of hers?

_**"Enjoying yourself?" **_

Her face burned even more.

"_No_ I am not enjoying myself! What the hell?"

Her anger at hearing him chuckle must have somehow translated into her puppet controlled body since she found it gripping Tsuna's arms tighter. She winced; that was definitely going to leave some nice dark purple bruises after wards.

"Dammit Tsuna! Fight! At this rate, you're doing exactly what Mukuro wants you to!"

_**"He can't hear you~" **_

Damn him.

Noelle's hands moved towards the boy's throat, her fingers slowly wrapping around his throat as she moved in for the kill. Her grip tightened and she began squeezing the very life out of him.

Finally, she couldn't take it any more. He was going to die at this rate!

_"What the hell are you doing Tsuna?"_ She screamed, her frustration finally peaking over._ "Fight back! If you don't, Mukuro is going to destroy everything that's precious to you. Your family, your friends! EVERYTHING!"_

Her vision wavered and for a moment she thought that she was in control of her body again.

_"You're the only thing standing between him and the destruction of this world. But if you let yourself fall right here and now, you'll just be another obstacle he over came!"_

Why the hell was he hesitating? Couldn't he see how much it was working against him right now?

_"You have to fight back!"_ She slammed his head against the ground twice even though if she wanted him to get through in one piece, this wasn't the best course of action to take to convince him. _"What happens to me doesn't matter; It'll only take me a few days to recover, so stop being so goddamned indecisive about hurting me already and start fighting back!"_

_"He can't." _That was Reborn. _"You know what kind of person Dame-Tsuna is Noelle. Do you honestly think he can bring himself to hurt you?"_

Wait? Was the baby talking to her?

Did they hear her scream that out loud? Noelle cringed until the cogs in her brain started working. She had been frustrated with Tsuna to the point of wanting to hurt him badly...

Maybe Mukuro wasn't as in control of her body as he told her he was. He said the Realm of Heavens was effective against her, but that was it.

**'_Okay, Noelle, time to put your theory in action and hope it works.' _**It had to. This kind of thing... this kind of thing never happened from where she originally came from. Tsuna originally won against Mukuro but now, there had been a wrench thrown into the works; her. Neither the anime or the manga had Noelle in the story being manipulated like a puppet on strings and strangling Tsuna.

Before she could think any further with that theory, she heard something land with a 'thwack' beside her and her head automatically turned to see what it was. It was Mukuro's trident.

_"Finish him off." _Mukuro no longer looked amused.

Slowly her arm extended towards the future Mist Guardian's weapon.

Tsuna was struggling to get out from underneath her, even though she was still holding him down with one hand and the other was reaching for the trident.

After what felt like an eternity, she was finally touching the dreaded weapon. She pulled it from the floor and raised it above her head, aiming the three sharp points at Tsuna's chest, forced to watch in horror as she about to bring it down on him.

_**'NO!'**_

And then something hard collided into the side of her head.

0000

Tsuna took advantage of Noelle's momentary confusion and pushed her off him, not wasting any time. He estimated that he had a few seconds before the possessed Serafin would recover and attempt to stab him again, so he stepped on the arm that held onto the three pronged weapon and forced her to let go out of pain and reflex.

Taking the weapon from Noelle, he threw it across the room and out of either Noelle or Mukuro's reach.

It was Ayame who had thrown what Tsuna recognized as Noelle's staff, even though it had been retracted at the moment it hit the girl's head and gave him the opportunity to escape. Seconds after she had effectively distracted the Serafin, Ayame had gone after Mukuro from behind, slashing his back open. Maybe Mukuro had been so intent on watching the battle he hadn't sensed her being by the door way, hidden by the shadows and waiting for her opportunity to strike.

Or maybe it was because anyone capable of fighting Hibari on equal ground was just insanely strong. Hibari had probably given the Kokuyo student some trouble, even though he lost in the end.

"Who are you?" Mukuro growled at her.

"No one you really need to know about." She said flippantly. "Just someone who's decided to come to that guy's rescue."

Ayame gestured to Tsuna and smirked at him.

"I'll handle Serra. You take care of the pineapple head baddie over there."

She promptly ignored the boy's growl as she and Tsuna walked past each other to fight against their designated opponent.

"Now it's a two on two fight." She smiled at Mukuro sweetly. "Let's hope that will even up the odds a bit."

The girl couldn't help but gloat at the the dark haired boy's expression. She winked at Tsuna and then turned to her currently possessed rival.

"Guess this means you're not going to hold back?" Ayame arched an eyebrow at the blonde and licked her lips, grinning. "Good, because that means I don't have to either!"

0000

"GAH!" Noelle stumbled back when the naginata sliced into her side. Red flashed momentarily across her vision.

Her body had made to move back and avoid the blade, but there was one thing that she had entirely forgotten up to that point until now: her leg was still chained down.

**_'Thank you, Mukuro...' _**She said in her mind, not wanting to say it out loud and giving him the impression that she was actually _grateful _towards him for something, even though it wasn't in his favour.

Noelle saw red again as the naginata this time sliced deeply into her right leg. Unable to support herself any longer, she collapsed on her knees. Her body tried to force itself up, only to have her legs swept out from underneath her. She fell onto the floor again, unable to get up this time. Seeing the blood pool around her, she scowled and hoped that she wouldn't lose so much that the doctors would freak out since she lost enough to have long died of blood loss.

While she couldn't actually die _yet_, it would probably bring up questions as to how she survived bleeding out all six liters of blood the average human body contained.

Noelle's hand latched onto Ayame's ankle and the green haired girl was yanked down on to the ground.

"Oof!" Ayame grunted. She used the end of her naginata and stabbed it into the back of Noelle's hand and making her let go.

Despite being badly wounded, Noelle continued to go after Ayame. She pulled herself across the floor slowly, her already injured legs doubly hindered by the deadweight.

**_'Alright, this is getting old.' _**Noelle rolled her eyes. **_'Can I just stop already?'_**

And that's exactly what happened. One minute her body wasn't obeying her orders and she was still attempting to kill Ayame against her will and the next, she had suddenly stopped moving.

**_'What the...?'_**

Her vision flared and she found that she was once again in control of her body. Confused, she turned her head to find that she had no difficulty in doing so and wasn't fighting against an invisible force for control. For whatever reason, Mukuro couldn't afford to extend his powers to keep her under his thumb any longer.

Agitation was visible on Mukuro's face. He no longer looked smug as he took the battle with Tsuna seriously. Noelle couldn't help but be amused by the irritated look on her captor's features.

Just when she thought that things were going great for Tsuna and that he was going to kick the over confident illusionist's ass, Mukuro pulled off the dirty trick of hiding rocks behind an illusion and blinding the Hyper Dying Will mode boy on purpose. But instead of throwing Tsuna back into the wall where he had originally embedded his trident, Mukuro was instead holding onto the weapon and _charging _at him.

**_'Oh no, no, no...' _**Noelle had to move. Tsuna could _not _get injured by that thing in any way or form. She didn't even want to _think _about what could happen.

**_'Move!' _**She ordered herself.

Her eyes burned the same way it did the night she was captured. It wasn't painful, but they were emitting a hot feeling that she knew wasn't normal.

Her body was moving on it's own again, but it wasn't Mukuro controlling her movements. She was just in time to prevent Tsuna from being Mukuro's new vessel.

When Noelle's body had forced itself up, she hadn't been thinking of anything else other than to make sure that there wasn't a scratch on Tsuna. So while the boy was safe and unharmed, she couldn't really say the same thing for herself.

"You..." Mukuro's darkened face snarled at her.

Noelle smiled, grabbing onto the trident and holding it so tightly that Mukuro was not going to have an easy time getting it away from her. Blood trickled from her mouth, dripping onto the floor.

Piercing into the right side of her chest was Mukuro's trident. She had roughly shoved Tsuna to the side, knocking him onto the hard ground and taking the blow that was originally meant for him.

"Me!" She announced proudly. "What's the matter Mukuro? Scared that your plan isn't working out as well as you had planned it?"

Mukuro tried to take the trident back, but Noelle held on to the weapon as if her life was pending on it.

It had been considerably stupid of her to leap in front of a maniac wielding a weapon since that was how she had died the first time except this time it was a trident and not two bullets. But for now she didn't regret it. Besides, thanks to this partly human body and partly whatever the heck else it was Noelle wasn't even feeling a lot of the pain she should have. Even better, she wasn't bleeding to her second death.

Unfortunately, she was still succumbing to the blood loss. While she wasn't able to die, her body and soul still remembered how she should act accordingly to like, bleeding out a lot. If she bled out enough to warrant a fainting spell, then she she would faint because she lost too much blood.

"Okay, Tsuna, if you're planning to do anything, now would be the time..."

He didn't need a second bidding as he lunged at Mukuro, tackling him backwards and away from Noelle and the trident. As they fought again, the blonde pulled out the three pronged weapon and slammed it into the ground before the feeling of nausea took over.

Noelle slid onto the ground, drained. She was holding onto the trident tightly, partly to support herself but mostly to make sure that Mukuro wouldn't get his hands on it again.

It took all her effort to stay conscious, but it was worth it as she watched Tsuna finally defeat the one responsible for the Kokuyo events._'_'

_'About time...'_ Noelle thought as darkness started to consume her mind and her vision clouded over. _'I knew you could do it Tsuna...'_

The last thing she remembered seeing was a pair of warm orange eyes staring back at her and smiling at their owner.

0000

0000

"Noelle-nee! Tsuna-nii!"

The girl on the hospital bed looked up to see Ranking Fuuta run into the room and throw himself on to Tsuna's bed, making the boy whimper as his sore muscles groaned underneath the added weight. Noelle giggled before turning back to the chocolates she was sharing with the Vongola Decimo candidate just moments before Fuuta had burst in. She and Tsuna were sharing a hospital room; Gokudera and Yamamoto originally shared it with them until they had been released (though Gokudera tried to stay in longer just for the sake of being in the same room as his precious Tenth).

"Fuuta!" She grinned. "They released you?"

Five days had passed since Mukuro had been defeated and taken into captivity by the Vendicare along with Ken and Chikusa. Noelle wasn't sure about the fates of either Birds or M.M., but she hoped that the latter had also been taken in by the masked guards.

The only good thing that came out of the whole Kokuyo Arc was that Noelle had a new side kick. A fluffy brigand that went by the name of Zorro. Who was currently munching away on one of her chocolates (was that healthy for him?).

Two days after she had fallen unconscious, she woke up in the hospital surrounded by a tower of get well gifts. Some of them had been from Kyoko and the others but for the most part, the gifts were from the other Serafin. Every single one of them. She shouldn't have been surprised that they found out about what happened to her, but still...

He nodded. "I'm going over to Tsuna-nii's since mama said I could stay with them!"

Tsuna nearly fell off the bed. "Eh? More people living at my house?"

"Sounds fun!" Noelle smiled at him and he gave her a dead panned look in return. "It beats living by yourself."

Tsuna winced at the slightly darkened tone Noelle's voice had taken when she said the last part. She was probably referring to how no one had noticed she was missing. Even though she had reassured Tsuna that she didn't blame him for not realizing that something was amiss, he still couldn't help but feel guilty over it.

The door slammed open startling all occupants in the room as they turned their heads to see who else was visiting.

"Hey!" Ayame walked into the room, not bothering to lower her voice even though they were in a hospital. "How are you two doing?"

Ayame had been the only one who came out unscathed from the whole ordeal since she had stayed outside with Yamamoto most of the time and then only fought Noelle who was already at a big disadvantage from her imprisonment. A bruise or two from not being able to avoid Noelle's strikes in time but nothing that would impede her in any way if you didn't count having a numb shoulder.

"Pretty well." Noelle sighed.

The Midori Middle student was now an official member of the Vongola Famiglia. According to Reborn, she had been one of the more easier people to recruit as she had immediately agreed after he had given her the offer. This had put the baby in a pretty good mood as he hadn't taken anything out on his poor student.

Though she didn't want Ayame to be a member of the Vongola, even Noelle had to grudgingly admit that Hibari's childhood friend was a useful asset.

She had been the one to pierce together the clues that led to conclusion that something had happened to Noelle and had been very convincing when presenting evidence to others. Also, she had access to police records through her dad so if it came to it, she would do some... adjusting to anything that the police might keep on them. Ayame didn't really like that part but she didn't say anything about it.

Then there was the fact that she was on even ground when it came to fighting with Hibari. If the first two reasons didn't count for anything, then the third one certainly did. And lastly, she could be ruthless if she wanted to. She hadn't held back at all when she fought Noelle.

"Just wanted to tell you that someone came to visit you!"

She then stepped away from the door as the person came in.

Noelle fell off her bed.

Standing in the door way was _Sarah _of all people_. _

"What are you doing here?" The blonde demanded.

The woman pretended to be offended. "I come all the way to Japan to visit you when you've been hospitalized and that's all you have to say?"

"The last time you came to Japan," Noelle grumbled as she got up onto the bed again, "you tried to shove a leek up my-"

"Insertion?" Ayame looked at Sarah curiously.

"Yup! If Noe had let me help, she would have been cured a lot faster."

"Or not." Noelle added at the end. "How is shoving stuff up my rear end supposed to be a cure?"

"Never mind that." Sarah waved it off, much to the blonde's annoyance. "Anyways, I have some news for you!"

And already Noelle could tell that she was _not _going to like what was coming next.

"You're moving!"

Noelle fell out of her bed again.

"Since when?"

"Well, we already took out your stuff from the apartment and are moving it into the new house as we speak. The movers should be done by the time you're released from the hospital." And then Sarah was grinning. _Oh no. _"And guess what? Heather, Stephen and I are going to be living with you from now on!"

Noelle blinked. Everyone in the room knew to brace themselves as the girl's wide eyes slowly changed from surprise to horror.

They weren't disappointed when she yelled 'no' loud enough for the nurses' to come barging into the room demanding what was going on.

0000

"No... way..." Noelle said as she got out of the taxi and saw the new house.

After a week of being kept in the hospital, she was finally released. And she was glad since the food there was so bland; the only think that prevented her from flinging the trays out of the window was that she had the packages of chocolates and sweets to look forward that she shared with Tsuna since one, she couldn't eat all of the stuff she had been sent and two, what kind of friend would she be to eat chocolates in front of him and not share?

Anyways...

"_This _is my new house?"

"What's wrong with it?" Heather asked, confused. She was currently cuddling Zorro as she found his fluffy cuteness completely endearing.

Noelle frowned. There was nothing wrong with the house itself; it was more of the geological location of it.

She walked to the house to the left of it and read the plaque that listed the family name.

It read 'Sawada'.

She and Tsuna just became neighbours.

* * *

><p><strong>There! I'm done! I finally wrapped up this arc and as much fun as it was, it was also getting a little annoying. Anyways, hoped you like this!<strong>


	20. Jealousy

**I can't believe it. I'm on the Twentieth chapter of this story. I never thought that I would ever make it to the twentieth chapter of any story but here I am typing out Chapter Twenty of The Guardian Angel, my most popular story on fanfiction. Seriously, that's probably why I'm continuing this story even though my inspiration for the series is waning. Well on and off like a switch anyways. **

**Mmm... I'm planning on writing another KHR fic with, heh, you guessed it, OCs. But that's a long ways off. Anyways, enough talk about the story that WinterLily24 knows about. **

**Anyways, shameless advertising time! I have two fics: one of them is a bit of a crossover with Hetalia, staring my OC!Philippines. So any fellow pinoys who like Hetalia and KHR, go over and read it kay? And also a second What if? fic starring Noelle and Tsuna. Noelle in that time line chooses to die as she originally had... see what happens. **

**And now for the disclaimer!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle Kennedy/Serafin/Serra. Notice how I used all three of her surnames?**

* * *

><p><strong>Jealousy<br>**

Noelle's lungs burned, her legs were as heavy as lead and though she felt as if she was going to collapse on the spot because she had already been running for an hour and forty-five, she continued to push on. Sarah had told her that she was allowed to only take four ten minutes break and not to stop until she had run two hours, so that still left her with fifteen minutes to go.

Even with Sarah's 'generosity' (four ten minute breaks within a two hour run was _very _generous for the Demon teacher), running around Namimori for two hours was still tough. Not to mention that today would mark the second week of the new school year.

It was amazing that Noelle had been able to advance to the second year since she had missed a lot of school work thanks to being Mukuro's captive as well the hospitalization afterwards. However she had been able to catch up thanks to Kyoko and Hana bringing over the school work she had missed. And once she was done all of it, she helped Tsuna with his (much to Gokudera's aggravation) because he needed a lot of it.

Noelle wasn't a prodigy like Gokudera but because the highest level of schooling she had nearly achieved before her untimely death had been Grade 12, it was like reviewing what she already knew.

There were also her demon teachers. They insisted that she not only be sharp in fighting, but in mind as well. Dear lord those remaining days in the hospital had been a complete nightmare. Even Tsuna who had gone through bullying only she could imagine had given her looks of pity at her situation whenever Sarah was abusing her visiting hours by pushing Noelle's brain to the brink of self-destruction.

And when Noelle had been released, Sarah had made sure that her body also kept up with her mind.

The new house had been completely _rigged _with traps.

Noelle found that out the hard way when she had stepped through the entrance only to find the floor collapsing beneath her into a dark abyss. Noelle had just barely been able to grab onto the ledge and pull herself up.

She knew the trapdoor entrance was only the beginning of the hell she was going to suffer with three of the Serafin deciding to move in and she was unfortunately right.

Every morning, at six o'clock am to her horror, Noelle was expected to get up and go for a two hour exercise run. Just when she was beginning to appreciate the uniqueness of being a Serafin, the fact that she could survive running for two hours straight albeit being practically dead at the end of the day so she was expected to push past her limits made her want to go up to Seria and demand that she stop the trial, even if it meant failing.

On top of that she was expected to make it past the traps that were set up the house if she wanted to change, go to the washroom or just grab a bite to eat. The only actual safe zone in the new house was her room. Sarah had the grace _not_ to rig her room_._

"HEY!" Noelle nearly tripped on her feet when she heard the yell. She stopped and turned to face the person who had called out to her.

Running towards her at full speed to the _extreme _was Sasagawa Ryohei. Noelle noted that he was wearing dark pants with an orange hoodie_._

"Noelle-chan!"

Noelle nearly tripped a second time. She hadn't given him permission to address her by her first name, but then again this was _Ryohei. _She saw first hand just how horrible his short term memory was.

"Ah... Sasagawa," She said, not adding '-san' at the end as any of the other students would expect her to when she spoke to them. "I didn't know you got up this early."

A mental image of the future Sun Guardian sleeping on his bed with his blankets thrown askew and his limbs a tangled mess while he slept face first popped up in her head. Shaking her head furiously to try and erase it, she stared at the third year to distract herself.

Ryohei jabbed his fists in front of him as if he was in a boxing match.

"Of course I do! I train my body to the extreme everyday!" He paused and then said, "Isn't that what you're doing right now?"

"Yes, but don't _you_ think you're over doing it?" Noelle asked as she started jogging again after readjusting the headband she was wearing for that day, Ryohei soon catching up with her and keeping his pace even with hers so that they were running side by side.

"No! My motto is to live _to the extreme_!"

"You're going to wear your body out before you make it to your thirties." She glanced at her watch. Ten minutes, which meant that she should head home if she wanted to make it in time for breakfast. Stephen had promised her bacon this morning with pancakes; not that it really mattered since whatever the australian cooked was always heavenly.

"Anyways, I've got to go since I haven't eaten breakfast yet. Guess I'll catch you later at school."

Unfortunately, Ryohei followed her as she turned the corner.

"Noelle-chan, I still haven't gotten your answer for joining the boxing club!"

She was _really_ hoping he had forgotten about that.

"Sorry, I can't." Noelle said, looking as apologetic as she could. "I've got a lot of things to do and I don't think Sarah would let me."

That much was true. If she wasn't busy off playing Guardian Angel to Tsuna, Sarah would want her straight home so that she could brand even more things into her; like how to slice someone up eighty-eight different ways.

"Like what?" He demanded.

Noelle winced; he wasn't going to be easy to shake off.

"Like the fact that Sarah puts me through her version of 'extreme training'. Also," She raised an eyebrow at the older Sasagawa, "are girls even allowed to be on the boxing team?"

_That _got Ryohei's attention.

"Uh..." His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about Noelle's inquiry. "...I don't think so."

_Gotcha! _"Yeah, that's the problem. I can't be on the boxing team if _girls _aren't allowed on it. I'm sure it's obvious that I'm a girl. I've been attending Namimori Middle School in a skirt for over a year now."

Ryohei frowned and Noelle couldn't help but be relieved. She had finally gotten through to him and-

"I know! I'll ask Yamazaki-sensei if he can let you on the team!"

This time Noelle really did fall over. Not that Ryohei noticed since he was already running off towards his house, proud of his 'great idea'.

Lifting herself off the pavement she shouted at the boxer, "THAT ISN'T WHAT I MEANT!"

0000

Thanks to Ryohei, Noelle had barely gotten home with enough time to take a shower (two hours of morning running _did _leave you pretty sweaty) and eat breakfast. When she finally left the house, she found Gokudera, Tsuna and Yamamoto waiting for her by the entrance.

"You're late." Gokudera pointed out.

Noelle rolled her eyes and ignored him. The silver haired boy had been snappier than usual ever since he found out that she and Tsuna had become next door neighbours. She could tell he was fuming with jealousy and she would have extended the offer of him moving in with her (just so he could be living close by to his precious Tenth and not bother her about it) but she had no idea how the school would feel about two students who aren't related to each other living in the same household.

And the fan girls reactions. Don't get her started on the fan girls.

"Well unlike _some _people," She said, narrowing her eyes. "I am forced to get up at some ungodly time in the morning to run laps and then I have to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and feed Zorro. I'm kind of pressed to be out the door by the time you're ready to leave for school!"

Gokudera growled but Noelle turned away and ignored him.

"Still hard to believe the two of you are neighbours!" Yamamoto laughed as they started walking to school.

"You think you're surprised?" Noelle raised an eyebrow at him. "Imagine _mine _when my... acquaintances declared that I was moving and I didn't even know where until the day I was finally released."

But the most classic reaction of all was naturally Tsuna's. She and the other Serafin had gone over to Nana's house to help prepare the house to celebrate the boy's return from the hospital. Noelle had invited his future Storm, Rain and Sun Guardians as well as Kyoko and Haru to be there to surprise him. Stephen helped Nana cook while Heather and Sarah sat with Bianchi and Reborn to discuss... stuff.

As expected during the after the big reveal when Tsuna had come home and they were all eating together, Gokudera had glared at her the entire time probably thinking something along the lines of 'how dare she live next door to the Tenth!'. Noelle had been anticipating the right-hand man's reaction, so hadn't really been bothered by it.

What did put her off somewhat was Haru's reaction. The dark haired girl had given her a look that Noelle could only describe as being... jealousy?

Noelle could understand Haru being concerned about her living so close to Tsuna, but was that really something she should be jealous of? Why, of all people, would Haru be _jealous _of her? She could understand if she felt that way about Kyoko since it was so blatantly obvious that Tsuna liked her by the way he turned red and stammered whenever she talked to him, but Haru got along with the school idol just fine despite the fact that the boy she liked was crushing on her.

As curious as she was to know why she had earned the brunette's animosity since she was sure she did nothing to earn it, Noelle had a feeling that asking Haru wouldn't do her any good.

They made it to school with plenty of time to spare but Noelle found out the hard way that she was going to be late for homeroom anyways whether she liked it or not.

"OW!" Noelle immediately sat down on the ground, pulling off the shoe she had just put on.

"Noelle-chan, what's wrong?" Tsuna asked as Noelle inspected the object.

"Tacks!" She said after several seconds. "Someone put tacks in my shoes!"

There was irritation and disgust in her voice.

"What?" Tsuna asked in disbelief. He was about to ask her if she was sure when she turned her shoe upside down and something fell out from inside.

On the ground were undeniably several golden tacks.

Yamamoto took her other shoe and flipped it upside down as well. And surprise, surprise, there were tacks in it too.

"Eh?" Tsuna got onto his knees and collected the dangerous objects into his hand. "This can't be an accident."

Noelle grumbled something underneath her breath as she pinched a tack between her fingers. She pulled one out hissing as she did so. Great, another four more to go...

"Is someone bullying you?" Gokudera asked suspiciously.

"As far as I know, no." Noelle muttered as she pulled out another tack.

She pulled out the remaining three tacks and dumped them into Tsuna's hand. The boy 'hiie'd because the points of the tacks that had been embedded into her foot were glistening with her blood. He nearly fainted when he saw the bottom of her sock stained red.

Yamamoto winced when he saw her foot. "That looks like it hurts. We should bring you to the infirmary."

Noelle quickly put on her shoe after she had been absolutely sure that there were no more tacks in it. "Don't bother. It isn't that bad and we'll be late for class."

There were also two words that made up one of the reasons as to why she didn't go: Doctor Shamal.

While he ogled at any of the girls who came to see him because they weren't feeling well or injuries, he unfortunately seemed to take a special interest in her.

Too bad she didn't get a say in it. Yamamoto lifted her off her feet and carried her bridal style towards the infirmary.

"Hey! Put me down!" Noelle shouted, trying to shove him away.

Yamamoto grinned and laughed. "Sorry, no can do until the nurse makes sure your foot is okay!" He turned back to Tsuna and Gokudera who were staring after them. "Tell the teacher we're going to be late for class!"

"Dammit Yamamoto, put me down!" Noelle flushed at the stares the two of them were receiving as they made their way to Shamal's place.

The blonde gave up when she realized that the baseball player wasn't going to do as she asked. But as she silently fumed and resigned herself to fate, she noticed some of the unfriendly stares directed at her... by girls.

The day she had first found tacks in her shoes flashed back in her mind. She remembered sitting down to eat lunch with her friends, arguing about food when one of Yamamoto's fan girls offered him a bento that he accepted. Then she went back to her friends and when they saw Noelle staring at them, they started glaring at her.

She also remembered Gokudera's own fan club being there and they had pretty much given the same look she received from the girls who crushed on Yamamoto.

So _that _was it, huh?

Noelle folded her arms across her chest and glared ahead as Yamamoto gently placed her on one of the beds. "I guess this sort of thing exists everywhere." She grumbled.

"Did you say something?" The baseball player asked.

Noelle shook her head.

0000

Noelle slammed the door of her classroom, not caring at all that she had nearly ripped the sliding door out of place. She would have let out a frustrated shriek were it not for the fact that she was so pissed off at the stupid teacher and a good majority of the girls in her class that she couldn't even do _that. _

How was it _her _fault that her textbooks and notebooks were ruined? Now she had to go and buy new school supplies because someone had dumped water all over her books.

Of course the teacher then had to pick Noelle to read a passage from a book.

Ms Miyagi who taught history obviously didn't like the students, but had taken an instant disliking to her and she made that obvious the way she sniffed disdainfully whenever Noelle got the question she asked correct. She didn't like Gokudera either, but didn't dare pick on him because by now, every teacher in the school knew that the boy carried dynamite on his person and wasn't at all shy about throwing it at people; teacher or not.

The first day, Noelle had seen a barely concealed smirk on her face when she hadn't been able to answer the question teacher asked her. Since then, she had vowed to read up on her history assignments so that she would be ready for any question Miyagi-sensei threw at her.

It worked but it also seemed to make her and teacher enemies.

While she had been able to answer the passage Miyagi-sensei had asked her to by borrowing Tsuna's, she had been unable to bring out her own book without showing the teacher that her stuff was waterlogged. Unfortunately in the end she was forced to take out the textbook whether she liked it or not.

Noelle had barely, _barely _just refrain from throwing the book at the teacher's face.

_Miyagi-sensei, _the name filled her with angry disgust even if she only thought it in her mind, hadn't bothered to hide the ugly smirk on her face when she said that it was against the rules to defile school property.

She completely lost it then and swore at the teacher using some pretty colourful vocabulary. All of it was said in english, but even if most of the class didn't have a clue as to what she was saying it was obvious by her angry tone that the words coming from her mouth were far from nice.

To her satisfaction, Miyagi's face was dark with anger that twisted her (unfortunately) beautiful features into the something nearly unrecognizable. The teacher sent her out of the room and Noelle happily obliged by storming out of the room; she didn't want to spend another minute in it with that teacher and those idiotic giggling girls who were too cowardly to come up to her face and say what their problem was, instead choosing to play petty tricks on her.

Noelle now finally understood how Madison must have felt when practically the entire school had turned on her.

She had a feeling that her week was about to get a whole lot _better_.

True to prediction, each day was even worse then the one before and Noelle's mood had darkened so much that she had actually _slapped _Gokudera across the face when he had decided to rebuke her for something concerning Tsuna (she remembered that it was for unintentionally ignoring him). The Hurricane Bomber had been so stunned by her action that he just gaped at her holding his swelling cheek instead of reaching into his pockets and threatening to throw dynamite at her as she turned on her heel and walked off in the opposite direction.

Noelle bought new books but took them home everyday to avoid that set being ruined. But her PE uniform went missing and she had to attend in her everyday uniform (thank you biker shorts). She had to do a daily routine check of both her indoor and outdoor shoes to make sure she didn't step in any more tacks (she emptied both shoes three days in a row).

Not to mention there were people talking about her. Even though she tried her best to block it out, her more sensitive hearing had picked up the whispers that they intended for her to hear.

By the end of the week, her tolerance was practically in the negative levels and her friends seemed to be avoiding her or at least tentatively talking to her like she was a walking time bomb.

0000

"The past week has been very stressful," Tsuna sighed_, _his shoulders slumped with exhaustion as he walked home with his two friends. For the first time since they became neighbours, Noelle had refused to walk with them stating she had business to attend to.

Yamamoto and Gokudera traded glances, the silver haired bomber for once trying not to pick a fight with his 'rival'. They knew he was talking about a certain blonde haired Serafin.

Even though Noelle didn't say it out loud, Tsuna could tell that she had become more paranoid about things ever since she had found those tacks in her shoes. At first, Tsuna didn't think it was bullying- maybe a really cruel prank that went too far but bullying was a bit much.

But her sopping wet textbooks the next day after the discovery of the tacks had left no doubt in anyone's mind that she had become the target of bullying. And even though Noelle had asked them not to get involved Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto helped her out in discreet secret ways. Such as keeping an eye on her desk during clean-up duty. They had roped in Kyoko-chan, Hana and even Fujimaki Yuu, another classmate who had also been in their first year class to help as well.

Since then they caught five attempts to try and vandalize Noelle's desk and were able to put a stop to it.

Unfortunately, it seemed that they were able to get her in other ways. What ways, he had no idea.

Yamamoto and even Gokudera were concerned about her as well; though in the latter's case it might have had to do with her slapping him over a snide comment he said that she was usually able to shrug off. Tsuna _still _couldn't believe Noelle had done that, but the red mark on his friend's face attested to it.

"But _why _is Noelle being bullied?" He finally asked. The only reason he could think of had to do with her being a foreigner or a... _gaijin_ in ruder terms. But she had been attending Namimori for over a year, so why pick on her _now_?

"Isn't it obvious?" Reborn's squeaky voice asked.

Tsuna jumped, looking around for the dreaded baby tutor who had said that. He nearly jumped out of his skin again when a section of a telephone pole peeled off and from behind it popped the baby.

"Reborn!" He said, wondering why in the world the hitman tutor had been hiding there but not bothering to ask.

"It is because the fan clubs of your friends are jealous of her." He said simply. "It doesn't help that she is also considered an outsider in japanese society's terms, especially with her looks."

"Eh?" Tsuna whirled around to face his two friends who just blinked back at him.

Gokudera and Yamamoto _were _pretty popular. How many times had he seen girls swooning whenever Gokudera got a question the teacher asked him right? Or how girls melted whenever the baseball player shot them a bright grin that could blind people?

At first, Tsuna couldn't help but be jealous (what guy _wouldn't_?) but now that he thought about it, it seemed too troublesome to have girls who watched your every move and then _react _to it either by staring at you with star struck eyes or sighing dreamily.

"But I hang out with them as well and nothing like that has happened to me!" In fact, it was the opposite. Life for Tsuna had gotten easier and rarely anyone called him 'dame' any more. Not unless they wanted Noelle pinning them against the wall and threatening to break their arm, Gokudera threatening to blow them up with his weapons or Yamamoto clamping a hand on their shoulder and grinning at them dangerously.

While Tsuna didn't necessarily like their methods when they were defending him, he couldn't say it didn't feel good to have friends after years of people making fun of him because he couldn't do anything right.

"But Dame-Tsuna you are not a girl and therefore are not considered a threat."

"Our fan clubs?" Yamamoto was scratching the back of his head with a confused look on his face.

"The girls who admire you from afar." Tsuna dead panned. How was he not aware of the fact that he was in a position most of the boys in their school would kill for?

"Oh, them!"

"Wait, so _they're _the ones who are bullying her?" Gokudera asked incredulously. Didn't this kind of thing happen only in those stupid fluffy shoujo mangas?

"But they seem so nice..." Yamamoto was frowning and his eyebrows were furrowed into contemplation. "I'll talk to them on Monday; Noelle-chan is my friend."

"Guess I can deal with them." Gokudera sighed. If it would mean that he didn't have to deal with Serra's irritable mood any more or seeing the Tenth acting skittish around her in fear that she would hurl him out the window...

The two of them left the Vongola candidate in front of his house, waving good bye and heading for home themselves.

"Talking to those girls will only make things worse." Reborn said once they were inside Tsuna's room.

"What?" Tsuna stared at the baby incredulously. "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because Noelle doesn't know how to deal with situations like this without confrontation. I'm sure that after Yamamoto and Gokudera talk to them, they will be angry enough to gang up on her and force her into the offensive."

Tsuna was unsure who he should feel sorry for; Noelle or the girls who would try and pick a fight with her.

0000

"Um... Noelle-chan..." Noelle sharply looked up at the person who said her name to find a nervous and hesitant Kyoko gazing at her.

"Yes?" She said, making her voice as neutral as possible. Kyoko, along with Hana, was part of the small group of girls in her class who weren't out to get her.

"Some girls outside said they wanted to talk to you." Kyoko glanced nervously towards the hall. Noelle peered around her to see a bunch of girls crowding the door way all glaring at _her. _

Noelle stared blankly at them before breaking out into a smile and looking back at the School Idol.

"Oh they do, do they?" She said.

Hana gave them the evil eye as she walked over to Noelle's desk.

"Geez, they look ready to kill. I'm guessing these guys would be some of your tormentors?" She snorted.

"Probably. This is the first time I've seen them in person though." She glanced down at her desk. "Watch my stuff. I'll be back before the end of the lunch hour... I think."

0000

"You little _bitch!_" Noelle's head snapped to the side at the force of the girl's slap.

She hesitantly touched the area that had been hit and winced. Not only had the girl hit her with the palm of her cheek, she had also scratched it with her nails. Noelle drew back her hand to see what the wet stuff she had touched was. She didn't even need a thorough examination to determine that it was blood.

"Mind telling me what I did to earn _that_?" Noelle said sarcastically.

There were fourteen other girls on the roof top, excluding her. Noelle had purposely drew them to the roof top so that there would be less eyes watching what would surely be a scene unfolding. Unfortunately, this also meant that they were free to hurt her as well with no witnesses around to testify for her. That is _if _they did testify.

"You told them!" The leader of the girls snarled. "You told Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun about us!"

"First of all," Noelle rolled her eyes, "I didn't say anything and in fact told them not to get involved with my troubles. Second, thank you so much for outing yourselves as part of being the group that's been making my life even more hectic than normal. I didn't think girls in Japan would pull the stunts you did, but..."

Noelle sighed, shaking her head.

"Guess cattiness is a universal thing, huh?"

"We're only doing this because you're always with Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera-kun!" Another girl shouted defensively.

"Those two are my friends in case you haven't noticed."

"Well stay away from them," The leader got right into her face. "Because we don't like seeing you near them! You can have Dame-Tsuna for all we care since he's as much of an outsider as you are, you gajin _freak_."

The sound of flesh making contact with flesh sounded through out the air and every single girl on the roof top except Noelle had a stunned expression on her face. The leader of the girls clutched onto her cheek, staring at the blonde with shocked wide-eyes.

Noelle's blue eyes displayed cold fury as she advanced towards the girl whose bravado was beginning to waver at the intense and angry gaze of the foreigner.

"I could care less if you insulted me since I'm used to it." Angie. All Angie right there. "But if you insult my friends, that's something I won't let you get away with on my watch."

"It's not an insult." The girl laughed, though her voice was laced with fear. "Dame-Tsuna will always be a loser-"

She squeaked as Noelle's eyes narrowed and her pupils dilated so that they were slit like.

"Shut. Up."

Noelle's voice was very cold. Even though she didn't really take note of it, the girls didn't seem so confident any more despite the fact that they had the advantage over her in numbers.

Even though she was furious that they would dare to insult one of her friends, one that was incapable of defending himself at the moment, a small part of her brain found amusement in the situation. Was this what it was like to be Hibari whenever he stalked the halls, telling everyone to get the hell out of the way otherwise he'd beat the crap out of them.

"You don't even _know_ a thing about either Gokudera or Yamamoto, much less Tsuna." She hissed. "What you fan girl and cheer over is the outer persona you see at school rather than for who they really are."

"We know them better than you!" A girl shouted, stamping her foot on the ground.

Noelle laughed. "Why? Because you've gone to the same elementary school as Yamamoto? Because you decided to create a club of admirers who watch Gokudera's every move?"

"Stop referring to them so casually!"

"They're my friends. I have every right to." Noelle's eyes swept over the crowd. "So that's pretty much the reason why you decided to make my week as much of a pain as possible? Because you're _jealous_?"

Someone shoved Noelle so hard that she nearly fell over.

She sighed. "Could you get any more petty?"

"Just stay away from!" The leader snarled, having recovered from Noelle's slap. She went up to the blonde and shoved her.

Noelle shoved her back. "You have no right to tell that to me. I can hang out with who I want, when I want without some group of girls telling me otherwise."

She found herself surrounded by angry girls from both her friends' fan clubs but all she could do was smile as they tried to 'teach her a lesson'. One girl charged at her but Noelle easily blocked her fist and grabbing the collar of the girl's shirt, she promptly flipped her over so that she was lying on the ground completely out of breath.

Another girl who got too close was punched in the stomach and went down for the count.

The Rooftop Rumble as it would later be referred to was pretty much Noelle countering the attacks of the girls who tried to one up her. This continued for five minutes until several girls who lost their nerve upon seeing many of their fellow fan club members lying on the ground at the mercy of one person made a run for the door. But before they could open it, the door slammed open to reveal...

...Hibari.

The Prefect did not look happy. Even more evident when he brought up one of his tonfas and said with narrowed eyes, "For disturbing the peace, I'll bite you to death."

The girls shrieks filled the air and Noelle could only watch in disbelief as Hibari dealt each of the girls hard blows with his trademark weapons, not holding back in the least.

If there was one thing Hibari was not, it was a gentleman. He did not go easy on an opponent just because they were of the fairer sex. Within seconds there were three girls lying by his feet groaning. The Prefect who handed them the beating ignored them as he turned his cold and hardened gaze on Noelle.

At once she knew that he wasn't going to listen to reason and would beat her black and blue just like he did to those girls. So she stood her ground and waited for his blow to come.

She didn't have to wait long.

Hibari swung his tonfa at her and Noelle quickly blocked it with the back of her right arm. Slipping the same arm she had used to block the weapon underneath it, she used her left hand to grip the tonfa while her right grabbed the collar of his shirt and she tossed him in the most empty direction her mind could find.

The Prefect still managed to land gracefully on his feet like a cat even though she had thrown him too quickly for any normal person to be able to recover from.

"You've gotten stronger, Herbivore." He smirked.

"Oh really?" Noelle placed her hands on her hips as she turned on her heel to face him. "How about I show you just how strong I've become?"

Normally she would have walked off in the opposite direction to escape from having to fight the Discipline Committee leader but after the events of last week she felt that a good fight would help her release the pent up anger. And who better to take out your irritation on than Hibari? The guy was always looking for a fight and if it was a fight he wanted, then it was a fight she would give him.

"Hmph." Hibari grunted but he was smirking as he held up his weapons.

Noelle immediately got into a defensive stance, her eyes narrowed saying that she was ready to take him on.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, didn't really get much plot advancement done. Well, there are hints that Noelle and the gang are second years and I skipped over the whole 'Tsuna finds a dead body in his bed' thing since Noelle was too busy brooding over her pretty crappy week<strong>. **Anyways, this is it for this chapter and I guess I'll see you in the next one. **

**By the way, hope I didn't make Noelle mary-sue in this. Yes, a bunch of girls are jealous of her (Haru included) but she doesn't like being an object of jealousy. **

**I'm taking a Japanse Society course in college right now and one of the things I've learned so far is that Japanese people (no offense to them or anything) have this tendency to view things as being 'inside' or 'outside'. And those who are considered to be 'outside' are treated in a not so nice manner. Guess which category Noelle is in?  
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**Oh yeah, don't forget to review! I live on reviews and it inspires me to write more!  
><strong>


	21. Invitation

**Ha ha ha. It's been a while since I updated, huh? Sorry about that, but my mom kinda threatened me to start picking up the slack in my school work, not to mention I also had to study for my midterms, so yeah... as I've said, it's been pretty busy for me. Wish I could have gotten a start on this earlier, though. **

**So where did we last leave off? Oh right, Noelle not only was dealing with bullies but now she has decided to pick a fight with Hibari. I'll tell you that Noelle vs Hibari sounds fun, doesn't it? Who do you think is going to win?**

**And, aha, started a new fic. It's in the Hetalia fiction, so check it out if you feel like it!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I do, however, own Noelle.**

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><p><strong>Invitation<br>**

Like every other stupid idea Noelle came up with in both her life times, the blonde was already regretting acting on her impulsiveness that _always _got her into trouble. Even more so in the world her trial was set in. The amount of trouble she (or others) landed her in was already more than double when she was still with Madison.

Noelle ducked the tonfa coming at her head at what _had _to be sixty miles per hour. She heard a crack, but ignored it as she kicked out at her opponent.

Like most of her blows, Hibari blocked the kick and countered her attack. Her shoulder took most of the impact when crashed on the ground, but Noelle immediately got back up and into a defensive stance so that she was ready to counter the Prefect's attacks if he decided to take advantage of her being downed.

_'Just how strong can one person be?' _Noelle thought incredulously as she wiped away blood from the corner of her mouth. Earlier, Hibari had sent her flying into the ladder that led up to the water tower... when she was just standing _two meters _in front of it. It didn't hurt as much as it normally should have, but thanks to him, several of her ribs were broken. _'I **really **shouldn't have underestimated him.'_

The Serafin had to grudgingly admit that ever since Sarah had started retraining her, Noelle's battle reflexes were a lot better. And like every protagonist who started winning multiple battles in a row or defeated some really hard opponent in fiction, she had gotten overconfident.

Which was why she was in this mess in the first place. She thought that she could beat _Hibari_ of all people in his pre-Cloud Guardian stage.

"You're a lot tougher than I expected you to be." She said, smiling at him despite wanting to run away from the battle.

She didn't know how he did it, but Hibari managed to look both annoyed and amused at the same time.

"Hmph." Was all he said.

Hibari charged at Noelle, weapon out to smash her skull in. Like every other one of his attacks that involved his tonfa meeting her head, the blonde held out her arm to block the weapon. But this time, once her arm made contact, something sharp pierced her flesh. Instinctively, the blonde pulled her arm away and jumped back from him.

"Just when I thought your tonfas alone were bad enough," She grumbled, seeing blood drip onto the ground. On top of the major bruising from being thrown into the walls and the ladder and getting hit by those stupid tonfas, she was sure that she was going to need a lot of bandages once the fight was over. "You decide to have tricked out tonfas? What is _wrong_ with you?"

Noelle already knew this, but really? This guy didn't need weapons; what in the world was the person who gave him the tonfas thinking? Noelle would love to give them one hell of a beating if she ever discovered who they were.

(At the Namimori Police Station, the Police Chief sneezed and he wondered if someone was talking about him).

Hibari _smiled_.

The Serafin nearly slipped at what had to be _the_ rarest sight in the world.

_Hibari. Kyoya. **SMILING.**_

For a moment, Noelle panicked about the apocalypse having struck until her mind snidely told her that she was still standing in place and no earthquakes or eclipses had occurred after what she witnessed.

When she dared to glance at the smile again, she saw that there was an underlying blood thirst in it and she realized that the end of the world wasn't coming soon. It wasn't an actual, honest genuine smile: Hibari was just displaying the kind of slasher smile that you saw on TV. The kind that the crazy killers had on when they were in a room by themselves with their next helpless victim.

...And Noelle found it disturbing that she she saw a slasher smile on the Prefect's face being perfectly in character for him.

He lunged, covering the distance between them so fast that Noelle hardly had any time to dodge. And even then, he still managed to slice her cheek open. She didn't have time to retaliate against him as she was doing all she could to just avoid the guy from striking her, which she wasn't even able to avoid completely.

By the time she saw an opening, she had to sacrifice her right arm and left hand to stop the flurry of blows. Lifting him off his feet by taking full advantage of the sometimes useful curse (aka her super strength), she rammed him against the wall and pinned him there by his throat.

Noelle ripped away one of his tonfas from him violently and threw it behind her. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Hibari's other arm that still held onto his remaining tonfa move. Though she had seen the movement, she had been unable to stop it as the weapon collided into her side so hard that she coughed up blood. On Hibari, unfortunately. She was certain he was going to make her pay for that later.

Even so, Noelle continued to hold him by his throat against the wall.

"So Hibari," Noelle said,"Are you still going to fight?"

She knew better than to use the words 'give up'. That would just end up with Hibari trying to viciously beat her into the ground for daring to imply such a thing to him.

His response was to press the tonfa against the side of her throat. She felt the tonfas 'thorns' cut into her skin and something wet trickle down her neck.

Noelle didn't remember what happened after that. Next thing she knew, she was standing over a barely conscious Hibari who was lying on the ground flat on his back. She was holding onto one of his tonfas, her arm raised above her head as if she was dealing someone a final blow. Confused, and for some reason disoriented, she lowered the arm.

She didn't have time to blink when Hibari knocked her to the ground and pinned her down.

"It seems I've underestimated you Herbivore." He loomed over her.

Noelle smiled sweetly at him. "They all do."

Removing her arms from his grasp, she shoved him off as they continued the fight that did not seem like it would end.

Noelle had no idea how much time had passed when Kusakabe came onto the roof.

"Hibari-san! Some third year delinquents have stirred up some trouble since you're not on your everyday scheduled patrol!"

He was greeted by the sight of Noelle holding one of his leader's tonfas that she was being used to block Hibari's second one. Her other fist was raised to punch the Prefect in the face.

Much to Kusakabe's relief, Hibari deemed the troublemakers who had _dared _to cause trouble in his absence more important than the battle between the foreign student and him.

Snatching the tonfa roughly from Noelle who had been distracted by Kusakabe's interruption, he turned away with his black uniform swishing behind him.

Noelle was tempted to call Hibari a show off, but his second-in-command was making gestures with his hands that practically begged her not to say anything that would rile up his leader's temper again.

So she just watched Hibari walk off in all his irritable glory with Kusakabe quickly following after him.

0000

"You are insane." Hana said, placing her hands on her hips as she glared down at Noelle who was reading a chapter of her printed out fanfiction she had brought to school to fight off the boredom of that day.

Noelle gave her a look that suggested she had no idea what the other girl was talking about. "Explain to me why you think I'm insane."

But she knew what Hana meant by her words. After the second round of fighting on the roof where she faced off against Hibari, Noelle just strolled right into English class as if nothing had happened. She hadn't stuck around to hang out with the boys as they would no doubt ask what in the world happened (with her new injuries and the tear across her shirt and all).

By the next morning, everyone had heard what happened. It was obvious to Noelle that the news of the events yesterday had spread by then since everyone who saw her stopped talking and stared at her when she was in the vicinity.

"You fought Hibari."

"He did kind of charge at me after he was done with those girls." That was another reason why she was so late to class. She had to drag the unconscious girls who had been incapable of getting on to their feet (aka the girls that Hibari beat up) all the way to Shamal's. She made two trips doing so while explaining to one of the teachers who caught her what she was doing. "...so it was self-defense."

Thankfully he wasn't a jerk like Miyagi and had been nice enough to help her clean up the aftermath of Hibari's mess.

Hana stared at her as if she had a second head before breaking out into laughter. "Those girls will definitely think twice before messing with you. If you can fight the strongest and scariest guy in our school for more than an hour, then you can definitely deal with them." She shook her head. "You sure are something. Even in elementary we've heard of Hibari and were scared of him."

Noelle leaned back in her seat and smirked. "Well it _is _pretty nice not having to deal with the annoying fan girls any more."

If being able to fight off the Demon Prefect didn't teach them a thing, then Noelle had no idea what would. But fortunately they did learn their lesson. Noelle had passed one of the girls who had been on the roof with her yesterday and all the girl did was glare at her murderously before looking away and continuing on as if she hadn't seen Noelle in the first place.

"But seriously." Hana said when she stopped laughing, a serious expression taking over. "You have to be careful. You're lucky you haven't been expelled yet."

"Yeah, lucky. Ha ha ha..." Noelle trailed off.

She _had _been lucky. The Principal had called and asked her to come to the school early that morning so she went over with Stephen accompanying her. By the pissed off expression on the man's face, he looked ready to kick her out of Namimori until Stephen coolly mentioned that it would be in the Principal's best interest, as well as the school's, to keep on the Seraphic Conglomerate's (one of the many things that the Serafin had a hand in forming) good side. Something that would be impossible to do if he dared to expel Noelle.

As the Principal turned stark white at the mention of one of the most influential multinational companies, Stephen explained that he and the others were already unhappy about the discrimination that Noelle received at the hands of both students and one particularly nasty history teacher at the school (she told them all about it). They had over looked that, but things would change if the Principal proceeded with what he planned to do.

The man spluttered, turning red and saying that one of the girls Noelle had hit had a parent on the Board and they had been less than happy with what shehad done. Stephen said that _they _(meaning the Serafin) could deal with that and all the Principal had to do was not expel her for an unprovoked attack.

"...yup, very lucky."

Noelle asked why the Serafin had connections to a Conglomerate and Stephen just shrugged and said they had connections _everywhere _and could have just as easily used an influential dangerous yakuza to get the Principal to cave in.

She wondered why in the world they had so many connections until Stephen spilled it was for situations like the one several minutes ago. They may have been angels in training, but they could still get sued.

"So what's up?" Noelle said quickly, wanting to switch topics. "Something good happen?"

Hana was oddly happy and it was beginning to scare her a little. The blonde was used to seeing the girl being seemingly grumpy.

Noelle's classmate blushed and her eyes sparkled as she remembered who she had seen this morning. So Noelle would have to take that as a yes, something good _did _happen.

"I saw _him_ again." Hana said dreamily.

"'_Him_'?" As far as Noelle knew, Hana wasn't interested in any of the guys at Namimori Middle since she preferred older guys who were considerably more mature than the ones in her age group. Not Gokudera, not Yamamoto who a lot of the girls in their grade as well as others crushed on.

"Yes..." Hana sighed and Noelle snickered, earning herself a glare. "Who knew Sawada and him were friends?"

Wait... wasn't this a plot for one of the KHR episodes? Who did Hana fall for again...?

The patterns of black and white flashed through her mind and she dropped her head onto her desk. How could she forget? It was the adult version of Lambo that Hana had the hots for. She went so far as to blackmail Tsuna into hooking them up together.

That was probably the only time Hana didn't _notice _any of the flaws in a guy, but that could probably contributed to her being head over heels for him. Still, you would think she'd get turned off by a grown man running around in a cow suit and generally acting like a bratty immature five year old; something Hana hated especially in kids.

"You think you're going to see him again?" Noelle decided to play along.

"I will!" There was a determined glint in the girl's eyes.

"How?"

"I'll get Sawada to introduce us!"

In other words she was going to blackmail Tsuna by using Kyoko and Haru against him.

"Good luck." Noelle nodded as any good friend would, even though she knew things were going to go awry.

As usual.

She sighed seeing Hana's love struck expression gaze. Apparently the saying of love making people crazy _was _true. Level-headed and realist Kurokawa Hana was completely gone the entire morning, staring at the window like a forlorn maiden who had fallen hard for her knight.

Noelle was feeling really bad for Tsuna at the moment.

0000

"Hey Noelle! You've got mail!" Heather shouting, sticking her head out from the kitchen as Noelle collapsed on the chair in front of the dining table. On top of her still sore body from fighting the Demon Skylark, she still had to get past the lethal traps set up in her house. "It's on the table!"

Noelle straightened up in her seat and saw two envelopes in the middle of the table. One was just a simple plain envelope while the other was a cream coloured one. She turned over the latter to see that it had been sealed shut with wax and had a familiar insignia that _everyone _in the mafia would would recognize pressed into it.

It was the emblem of the Vongola Famiglia. Noelle had seen it many times in her original world and her current reality.

Setting it aside for the moment, she opened up the white envelope. It had been hand delivered to the mailbox because only her full name was printed on the front: Noelle Serafin. Lifting the contents out, she saw two tickets for Mafia Land, a slip of paper with a time and date as well as a specific location she should be on that day and that exact time. If she had to guess, she would have to say that this was Reborn's doing and he wanted her at the Amusement park.

Like she was going to turn down the request. Who knows _what _he would do to her if she didn't go.

Moving on to the second envelope, Noelle broke the seal. She removed the card from inside and opened it up.

It was an invitation to a ball in Italy and the Vongola Ninth himself was inviting her to go to the dance that he was hosting. All the mafia families would be there, including the family she originated from.

Timoteo wanted her as one of the representatives of the Serafin.

Noelle slammed her head hard onto the table while still clutching the letter.

She had to meet with the _Ninth_?

Her stomach churned at the thought of their meeting.

Yes, she had managed to refuse to give up the information she knew to Rokudo despite days of torture and she had even fought Hibari, but the _current_ _head_ of the _Vongola_? Noelle groaned. She did not want to go to the ball either, but she doubted that you could get away with saying 'no' to the leader of the strongest, er, second strongest famiy in the world and get away unscathed.

Well maybe as a Serafin she probably could get out of it, but what was the likelihood that the others (*cough*Sarah*cough*) would force her to go whether she liked it or not?

"So what did you get?" Heather asked, coming into the room.

"Two tickets to Mafia Land and an invitation to a mafia ball that's being held by the Vongola."

Heather took the items from her younger 'sister' and examined them. "Are you going to them?"

She was taking a particular interest in the Mafia Land tickets.

Noelle sighed. "Do I have a choice?"

They both knew the answer to that one.

* * *

><p><strong>And the twenty-first chapter is out! Once again, there isn't that much advancement of plot except for Hana liking adult Lambo and stuff. Also, she got invitations to Mafia Land and a Ball held by the Ninth. I know there it isn't moving much, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!<strong>

**Also, yes, Noelle didn't win against Hibari. I thought it was better for their fight to end up unresolved rather than have either of them win.  
><strong>

**Don't forget to review because reviews are much loved!**

**REVIEW!  
><strong>


	22. Amusement Parks and Dresses

**Mmm... I'm starting this chapter up a lot sooner than I did with the last update. Hopefully it won't take about a month for me to complete the chapter this time, though I don't think it would since I'm really psyched to be writing this. Just so you know, you guys are going to be seeing two characters you might recognize from a different anime making an appearance as members of the Serafin. But like with Feliciano/AU!Northern Italy, they aren't going to be the exact characters you know and love.**

**But you should still be able to recognize them.  
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**sunstar13, one of my faithful reviewers, has pointed out a great injustice on my part: Hibari smiling. And she's right; just because Hibari likes to beat up other people doesn't mean he doesn't have a soft side, especially when it comes to Hibird and I-Pin. So I apologize on that part and let's just say that since Noelle was fighting him and holding up pretty well, that was the reason he smiled like that. Also, her imagination played a huge part as well.**

**And, uh, yeah. Chocolate + Birds = Not a good thing.  
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**So now that that's over with, it's time to get started on the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle and the Serafin.**

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><p><strong>Amusement Parks and Dresses<br>**

When Zorro got back from his scouting job, he landed on Noelle's shoulder and pulled on a strand of her golden hair. She nodded at Gokudera that it was all clear. If he was going to sneak on to the ship, now would be the time for him to do it.

With one more furtive look around to make absolute sure that no one would spot him, Gokudera made a run for it towards the gang plank that the crew of the ship used to transport the cargo to sneak aboard the boat that his future boss was going to be on when it departed for Mafia Land. Because what was a boss without his right hand man by his side, even if he had to become a stowaway to accompany him?

Noelle waited for a few minutes in her hidden spot within the shadows, watching. After hearing nothing but silence (which meant that Gokudera had successfully made it in without being seen), she turned away and ran back to where the passengers were standing. She sidled up next to Ayame with a perfectly neutral expression; no one would have suspected that she had helped a stowaway on board.

"So how did it go?" Ayame asked. She was referring to the mission of sneaking Gokudera in.

Ayame had been the fourth person Noelle had asked to come to Mafia Land with her as well as the first to agree. Noelle had asked the other Serafin if they wanted to come (though her asking Sarah was out of forced obligation), but they were all busy. So the blonde went over to the Namimori Police Chief's house to see if _she _wanted to go.

The rest of Ayame's family had been all too happy to get her out of the house and promptly kicked her out. Literally. With her luggage and stuff she might need later on.

"Mission accomplished." Noelle said. Honestly, their security wasn't that hard to bypass.

Either that or Reborn knew exactly what was going on and decided to make things easier for them in his grand plan of making Tsuna freak out and try to keep the other 'stowaways' hidden.

"I'm surprised you were able to make it past them with that backpack." The bomber had packed every necessity he needed in the kind of backpack hikers used when they were hiking up on a mountain.

"So am I." When Noelle had met up at the designated meeting place Gokudera told her to go the first thing, she remarked that he was not making things easier for her and that if he ever chose to pursue a job in espionage, he would have automatically failed.

Noelle remembered when he had called her the night before, much to her surprise since the only time he actually talked to her was when they were hanging out together with Tsuna.

0000

_"Hey Stupid Blonde!" That was the greeting that Noelle received when Sarah called from downstairs to tell her that she had a phone call. _

_After disentangling herself from the net that had been set up in the middle of the stairway and then falling down the rest, she grabbed the phone and growled at the person that their call had better been worth it._

_"Gokudera?" Noelle said, staring incredulously at the phone and wondering if she wasn't dreaming._

_"It's me." The boy on the other end of the phone growled. _

_"I got that." Noelle said. "But why are you calling me? And how did you get my number?"_

_"I hacked the school data base." He did _what_?  
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_There was silence on the other end until Gokudera decided to speak again. _

_"...I need to ask a favour of you."_

_"...what?" _

_"I NEED. TO. ASK. A. FAVOUR. OF YOU." Gokudera growled out the words as if it was against his pride to do so._

_"Okay, okay." The blonde said quickly to avoid riling up the future Storm Guardian's temper. "You need something from me. Now just tell me what you need."_

_"I need you to help me sneak onto that ship tomorrow. As his second hand man, I can not let the Tenth go anywhere without me!"_

_Noelle wondered if Gokudera was aware of just how much his obsession with Tsuna and being his right hand man was bordering on being illegal. She figured she'd let him know in a couple of years or so when he was more mature to be able to look back at his own actions and realize that there were times in his life he was being absolutely ridiculous.  
><em>

0000

Noelle winced as the electricity from the electrified fence coursed through her. The shock would have out right killed anyone else, but considering her... condition... that was impossible.

Immediately she let go of the fence. She clenched and unclenched her hand several times. Her arm was numb and her hand stung, but that was a hell of a lot better than lying on the ground in agony and twitching. Just how much did these people electrify the fence anyways?

Probaby a couple thousand volts since the park _was _created by various mafia.

After Tsuna had been forced to go and settle things with the management of the amusement park and failed to return after wards, Noelle told Ayame to go have fun with the rest of the group while she went to see what was happening. At this point, Tsuna must have failed the test and was on his way to the training area with Reborn.

As much as it sucked that she would be missing going on the rides and eating amusement park food with her other friends, she still had a duty to maintain. Somehow she didn't think the Serafin would be happy that she ditched the person she was supposed to be the Guardian Angel of just so she could go on the rides. Also, she didn't want Iemitsu or Vongola Ninth having a bad opinion of her either.

"Alright then," Noelle said as she glared at the fence after several times of trying to get a handle on its links. "Time to switch tactics."

Her hand went to her belt and grabbed the staff that she carried with her at all times now. Extending it, she backed away from the fence a few meters before charging towards it. About several feet away, she stuck one end of the staff into the ground and used her weapon to vault over the barrier that stood between her and the training grounds.

As smoothly as the jump went, her landing could have been so much better.

"OW!" Noelle landed hard on her butt before completely collapsing on the ground.

She stayed on the ground for several minutes before forcing herself up and rubbing the sore area. Note to self: butts aren't meant to take the impacts of any sort of fall.

Several minutes later, when she decided that it was safe to walk again, she dusted herself off and headed in the direction of where Tsuna was going to be forced to go through training with the Rain Arcobaleno Colonnello and Reborn. Using Tsuna's screams of pain as a way to locate him, she was able to make it in time to see the sadistic babies kick her charge into the raging whirlpool below.

"Who are you, kora?" The blonde blue eyed baby who was Colonnello demanded to know when he whirled around and had his gun trained on her.

She did not expect _that. _

"Tsuna's assigned Guardian Angel."

_Click. _

"Noelle Serafin?"

_Click. _

Noelle reached into her collar and pulled out the necklace bearing the Serafin insignia.

The baby's eyes widened and he _finally _lowered his gun.

"She's part of Tsuna's family." Reborn said smugly, smirking at the other baby.

"She is?" Colonnello both looked and sounded outrageously surprised.

Tsuna must have given him a pretty crappy first impression then.

Before any of the three could say anything else, Noelle heard a strangled yell for help and she rushed over to the edge of the cliff to join the Arcobaleno.

When Tsuna saw her peering down at him, he tried to call out to her before the whirlpool pulled him down underneath the waves. All Noelle could do was stare as he vanished completely from view.

"Aren't you going to rescue him?" Reborn asked. "His life is in danger."

Without a word to the baby who had gotten the brown haired boy in the mess in the first place, Noelle turned away from the edge and walked several feet away. She took a deep breath before turning around and diving head first into the less than friendly waters below. If there was a time for the lifeguard training her mother had made her take to be useful, now would be it.

She hit the water without so much as a splash, but didn't take the time to marvel at the dive that would have made a lot of gold medal divers gawk.

Noelle didn't have to look long before she spotted Tsuna at the bottom of the sea floor away from the whirlpool's wrath.

Unconscious.

_Crap. _

Immediately the blonde made her way towards him, wrapping one arm around his waist while her other arm worked with her legs to propel the two of to the surface. Once they broke through, Noelle pushed herself to swim to the beach so that she could make sure that her friend was okay. Even though her limbs were sore, still continued swimming until her feet could touch the ground.

She dragged him onto the sand.

After they were on dry land, Noelle laid him down on his back and quickly got down on her knees next to him to see if he was breathing. She glanced over at his chest to see if it was rising.

No dice.

Pushing herself up, she placed two of her fingers around his throat to feel for a pulse. Ten seconds later, she removed her fingers from his neck and frowned.

_Negative. _

Noelle bit her lip until she tasted metal in her mouth_. _

Getting no response from the methods that determined if they were breathing meant she was going to have to move on to the next part, something she desperately hoped that she wouldn't have to do.

Shakily Noelle placed the palm of her hand in the middle of Tsuna's chest and put her second hand on top with her fingers interlaced together as she braced herself to do chest compressions. She didn't know how much time had passed since she pulled him out of the water, but she knew she had to work fast before too much damage was done; every second and minute counted in reviving someone who had drowned. It was even worse for her since her cursed strength made delicate situations like these difficult.

Noelle applied pressure gently on his chest, counting the times she pressed down carefully. She made sure not to lose count of how many compressions she did and checked to make sure she didn't push down too hard. Ribs broke easily if you weren't too careful.

After thirty compressions, he still wasn't breathing so she tilted his head back and opened his mouth. She made a quick sweep to see if he had swallowed anything during the time he had been pulled beneath the surface. Since his mouth was clear of anything that could cause him to choke, Noelle took a deep breath and proceeded with the part she hated the most.

Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Pinching his nose, she placed her mouth over his and then breathed into him. Noelle watched his chest rise and then fall, but he still wasn't breathing on his own. She placed her mouth over his again breathed in a second time and was, finally, treated to a positive reaction.

Tsuna coughed and Noelle quickly moved away from him as he pushed himself over, turning to the side as he started breathing on his own again.

"Geez Tsuna, are you okay?" Noelle helped him to sit up.

After several more coughs, he finally rasped out, "I thought I was going to die!"

Hearing the approach of footsteps towards them, the two middle schoolers looked up and immediately glared at the babies who came into view.

Understandably Tsuna was mad about being kicked into a whirlpool while Noelle was pissed about them having placed Tsuna's life in danger and being the one who had to revive him during those maddening several minutes.

"REBORN!" Tsuna shouted at the baby, ready to give the baby a piece of his mind.

But Reborn ignored his student (who he almost killed by the way) and turned to face Noelle.

"You saved your boss' life when it was being threatened." Reborn looked both approving and proud of what she had done. "You can truly be called his Guardian Angel."

Noelle's face turned bright red as she momentarily forgot her anger and tried to stammer out that anyone in her position would have done the same thing when they saw that Tsuna was drowning. She turned to Tsuna for help, but when their gazes met he looked away from her.

Facing the babies, she began to yell at them about their methods of training and to vent that training didn't necessarily mean making the trainee endure near death. Killing the trainess was counterproductive after all.

If Noelle had looked more closely at Tsuna when he had turned away, she would have noticed that the boy's own face was flaming red as he unconsciously touched his lips. Even though he hadn't really been aware of it at first, he took note that Noelle's lips were really soft.

0000

Reborn had the decency to not pull anything on them when they were returning to Namimori. He must have found Tsuna's latest training satisfying since not only did Colonello the brutally spartan trained baby kick him around, the Cloud Arcobaleno decided to make an appearance as well to make things more difficult.

Sad to say, Skull really _was _as stupid as he had been portrayed in the anime. But it was definitely amusing to watch him try and cause mass destruction. Hint: try.

Now that Noelle had some time to herself, she decided to go on deck and feel the cold air. Something that she had taken for granted a long ago, Noelle couldn't help but appreciate it now even if it was one of the planet's more simpler natures. Even though she couldn't feel it the same way as she did before, the way the wind brushed against her hair and skin was soothing.

Noelle looked at the setting sun and saw the warm and cool colours of the evening sky. When she inhaled, she could smell the scent of the sea. It was a pleasant scent; salt mixed in with a variety of other things.

Hearing someone coming up behind her, she turned to see Tsuna turning the corner and stopping short once she saw him looking back at him.

"N-noelle-chan!" A faint blush crept onto his cheeks.

Noelle waved at him and smiled. "Hi Tsuna! Come to enjoy the view as well?"

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head. "No, Reborn told me to come and get you since dinner was being served."

"Oh, thanks!" Noelle quickly walked past him.

As they walked down the hallway to the dining room, Tsuna was fidgeting with the signs of wanting to say something.

Finally, he said what had been on his mind for the entire day. He didn't get the chance to tell her earlier since things had been hectic, but now that they were alone he could finally say something.

"Thank you for saving me earlier!"

"Eh?" Noelle stared at him blankly for a few seconds before she remembered that she had pulled Tsuna out of the water earlier and performed CPR. When she remembered the mouth-to-mouth part, her face burned and she avoided his gaze.

"...your welcome." She mumbled. "It's what friends do, right?"

Noelle smiled shyly at him, her face still red.

Tsuna nodded, the blush on his face becoming even worse.

0000

A week after the Mafia Land incident, Noelle found herself teaching Tsuna how to swim. Unsurprisingly Yamamoto, Haru, Gokudera and Ryohei had all failed to teach him how to actually swim and they had to leave it to one of Reborn's crazed plots to get the job done. She hadn't been at the pool since Sarah was too busy chasing her around Namimori in the name of 'training', but she later heard from the baseball player how the whole thing went.

When he started describing how the killer dolphin that Reborn had brought with him had chased Tsuna around the pool, Noelle had lost it there and fell out of her seat laughing.

A killer dolphin.

A _killer _dolphin.

The good news was that in the end, Tsuna had managed to swim fifteen meters.

Unfortunately...

He was supposed to be doing the _breast stroke _and not the crawl_. _

"Ready?" She asked him.

Tsuna nodded. The boy's pride had taken a lot of damage when his P.E. teacher forced him to go and swim with the girls. The girls who were currently watching Tsuna's attempts and giggling at each failure were not helping at all.

The future Vongola Boss tried again... and failed.

Noelle ignored the fresh burst of giggling behind her and helped the boy up again after he started sinking.

"Timing, Tsuna. You have to time your movements, otherwise it pretty much falls apart." Noelle sighed, exasperated. This was what... the sixty-eighth time they were attempting this? Noelle couldn't blame him for not being able to get it right immediately since it wasn't exactly the easiest swimming technique to get.

How many times had she flubbed the stroke herself before finally getting it right?

With each attempt, Tsuna was getting more and more discouraged. He figured that he was never going to get it right and be stuck swimming with the girls until the end of middle school. But Noelle refused to let him give up and repeatedly threw him into the pool whenever he thought about calling it quits.

After the fourth day of their private swimming lessons, Tsuna was FINALLY able to do the breaststroke _and_ swim fifteen meters at the same time.

Noelle congratulated him and then shoved the boy into the pool again, saying that they had other swimming techniques that his P.E. teacher had assigned for him to learn. He had to learn them if he was going to return to the boys side of the class again. Of course, this only made Tsuna cry.

Fortunately for him, the other swimming techniques were _much _easier than the breast stroke.

By the time of the sixth day, Tsuna had gotten the techniques down and Noelle treated him for Korean Barbecue.

She didn't feel like being the new Reborn or Sarah after all. Not to mention he that he did deserve the free meal after all his efforts.

0000

"It's good to be home!" Heather declared as she stretched her arms above her.

Noelle had to admit that she missed Italy. She had liked Japan and all, but it was definitely good to be back where she had first landed in this world.

The day after the start of summer vacation, Noelle had to leave for Italy so that she would make it in time for the Ball. She spent the rest of the time she had in Namimori saying good bye to Tsuna and the others and then preparing for the next day to make sure she wouldn't forget anything important. The Ball invitation was the very first thing that went into her bag.

The Serafin mansion hadn't changed very much. The entrance was as huge as ever... as well as intimidating.

"We barely made it." Noelle sighed as she dropped her and _Heather's _carry-ons onto the floor. The two of them hadn't bothered packing many of their belongings since they had a lot of clothes already in Italy. Just some articles of clothing and several things to entertain them while they were on the plane. "Since _someone," _The blonde's eyes narrowed. "Decided that we should stop and buy pastries; the _expensive _kind too."

The grin slipped off of Heather's face as it was replaced by an annoyed expression.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Heather grumbled. "But the guy who contacted me wanted us to stop by his favorite bakery and get his favorite treats for him. Trust me," she rolled her eyes. "If he wants you to buy his treats, then you should buy him or risk being forced to look at his kicked puppy eyed gaze all evening. As much as I hate the guy in a good mood, I don't like him giving me his damned puppy eyed look."

There was only one other person who got on Heather's nerves besides Stephen and that person was-

"Heather~!"

Speak of the devil.

Immediately the girl in question was tackled sideways by some yellow blur. Noelle automatically dove and caught the box with the precious pastries in them.

"JACK!"

Before Heather could throw him across the room, the blur had moved on to hug Noelle in the same tightening grip he used on Heather.

"Noelle! I haven't seen you in so long!" The person nuzzled their cheek against hers.

"Hey! Watch where you're touching!" Noelle tried to push the man off of her, but he had a good grip on her.

And she was still holding onto the box of pastries.

Jack Serafin, or rather Jack Vessalius in his past life, did not seem to know the concept of personal space as he seemed to enjoy frequently jumping people and glomping them whether they were aware of him coming on to them or not.

And he got away with it. A lot.

But that was how it worked if you were beautiful or handsome; you got away with a lot of things. Especially if you were rich at the same time and since Jack happened to be both...

Let's just say ladies and sometimes men found him to be very appealing.

"Jack." Noelle felt the man lifted off of her. She didn't even need to use her eyes to see who her saviour was. The voice alone was enough to tell and he always tended to not be too far behind from his more outgoing friend and partner.

Jack and Glen Serafin (formerly Baskerville) knew each other back before they died in their first world. From what Noelle knew of their past, they came from an era that was similar to the Victorian times. Even now, most of their clothes were still fashioned around that time; guess they couldn't get comfortable to the modern century's more simplistic and bland designs.

The two were total opposites in personality and appearance; one a loud and cheerful extrovert while the other was more brooding and quiet and preferred to keep to himself.

Jack had long blond hair that was tied back into a braid and bright green eyes that shone with mirth while Glen had neatly trimmed black hair and purple eyes that were unreadable, but also held a great depth in them.

"Glen!" Jack said cheerfully.

Heather and Noelle's eyes met and they both rolled them at the same time. The only person who Jack would listen to without question was his long time friend and babysitter, Glen. It drove everyone else nuts that they had to scream at Jack to do something while Glen just needed to mention his name.

"Weren't you asked to do something?" Glen's purple eyes were on the two girls for a moment before he looked away.

The blond haired man looked thoughtful for a moment before the metaphorical lightbulb appeared over his head as he remembered whatever it was he needed to do. "Oh, right!" He glanced over at Heather. "Heather~"

Heather's face paled. She quickly turned on her heel and was about to make a run for it down one of the mansion's many corridors when Jack immediately scooped her into his arms and threw her over his shoulder.

"DAMMIT! THE CAKE WAS A RUSE!" Heather furiously tried to make him let go of her, but Jack was used to dealing with Heather and her escape attempts. He hummed while Heather started cussing at him, using the most colourful words Noelle had ever heard her say.

Glen and Noelle watched the two of them until they disappeared from view. The latter raised an eyebrow at the former with a 'what the hell' stare and Glen sighed, shaking his head.

"The others asked Jack if he could bring Heather to the... dressing room. They said they would take care of the rest from there."

Noelle could feel that metaphorical sweatdrop sliding down the back of her head as Glen's words clicked into her mind. Before she had arrived, Heather had been the one forced into numerous poofy dresses and had her hair styled different ways. Needless to say that ever since then, Heather booked it whenever the topic of being forced to look pretty for any occasion came up.

"We should go before anything gets destroyed."

Noelle merely nodded and followed Glen.

0000

It sounded like a full fledged war was going on if the shouts and screams coming from the next door were anything to go by.

Noelle had never heard so much mass destruction caused by Heather alone. She had seen the results if someone was dumb enough to leave the older girl with either Stephen or Jack in a room (get your mind out of the gutter guys!) by themselves, the latter of the two doing something to annoy her one way or the other that would result in Heather attempting to slice them up with her twin swords.

The blonde herself had been brought next to the room where the war was going on.

Unlike Heather, Noelle had immediately put on the dress that had been picked for her.

It was a light blue, strapless gown that came with long unattached sleeves. It had a silver fancy design to it, but Noelle didn't pay too much attention to the intricate details of the clothing as she sat on the stool while the other women of the Serafin did her hair.

The Serafin women were super excited since this would be Noelle's debut at a formal event and they wanted Noelle to look her best. That meant they were going to go all out, no questions asked. After a fifteen minute debate on what style they should go with, they decided that curling her hair would be the best way for her to go. So grabbing the hair curler, they went about performing their magic touch on her.

When the women were done, they immediately shoved Noelle in front of a mirror so she could have a look herself.

Noelle gasped at her reflection.

Gazing back at her what Noelle could only describe as a princess. Golden curls cascaded down her shoulders and the dress she was wearing brought out her blue eyes. Still unable to comprehend that that she was staring at her own reflection, Noelle reached out to touch the mirror. The image in the looking glass did the same.

"You like?" One of the 'stylists' asked, extremely pleased.

Noelle could only nod as she gazed at her mirror image and it did the same.

0000

The line up for who was going to the Ball had already been picked out. There was going to be seven of them, Noelle being one of since she had been personally invited.

Besides her, the other six Serafin would be Heather, Jack, Glen, Feliciano and two others that Noelle had seen in the mansion but didn't really interact with. They introduced themselves as Alice and Eliwood.

Alice was an eighteen year old girl with silver hair and grey eyes; she was the one who handled intelligence despite her young age since in her past life, she had been incredibly smart. She had a bright future ahead of her, but it was unfortunately cut short like everyone else in the Serafin.

Eliwood was a red haired man with blue eyes. In his former life he had been a Marquess of a territory in the world he lived in and was one of the few exceptions of the Serafin of having their life brutally taken away from them. Of course, he died of an illness but not before living a good life and fathering a son who would rule in his place once he died.

He had been lucky compared to the rest of them.

The five Serafin waited impatiently as Noelle went to find Heather who was being an absolute baby about going to the event. It took her ten minutes, but the blonde had eventually found Heather and forcefully dragged her to the entrance so that they wouldn't be late.

"Got her." Noelle said, shoving Heather in Jack's direction so that he would make sure she wouldn't escape. Again.

Feliciano nodded.

"Shall we?" He gestured to the door.

Noelle hitched up the skirt of her dress and followed the others to her first Ball since she joined the Serafin.

* * *

><p><strong>And I'm going to end things here! Sorry, I cut it so short but I thought that it would be best to cut things short here. Besides, I just pretty much ended the first season with this chapter and will probably move on to the second in either the next chapter or the one after that.<strong>

**Anyways, you should recognize some of the other characters who play the Serafin. One of them should be especially familiar to you, colbub!**

**Don't forget to review!  
><strong>


	23. Ball

**Sorry it's taken a while, but I needed to get some things in order before I could write this chapter which I'm sure many fans are looking forward to due to the appearance of Jack and Glen from Pandora Hearts, Feliciano from Hetalia, Eliwood from Fire Emblem and Alice from the one and only My Heavenly Judgement!**

**At the same time I'm working on this story, I've also started a new one. It's called Rulers of the Eternal** Sky.** Though this means that Fragments of Lost Memories will probably be slowed down, it doesn't have that many chapters to go and I'll probably have to wrap it up soon anyways since it's beginning to lag a little. **

**I am so happy! I just got fanarts from a reviewer who goes by the name of** **EddiexFreddie****!**** It's a drawing of Noelle in her ballgown and a second one of her out with Tsuna! Go check it out on my profile page! yay! I didn't even see the second one until I was finished typing up this chapter, so thank you so much Eddie!  
><strong>

** Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do, however, own Noelle Serra and the other Serafin who aren't canon characters in other fiction.**

* * *

><p><strong>Ball<br>**

"Okay, we're going to have to go over some rules before we arrive at the party." Alice stated as she brought out a folder (wait... where did she keep _that_) in front of her.

Next to Noelle, Heather snorted while the others either looked amused or resigned as Alice started reading the list out loud.

Noelle was curious; as rowdy as a good portion of the Serafin could be, she didn't expect that they would actually have to have rules when it came to parties. Then again, she remembered an incident where Jack had actually gotten the precious grand-daughter of a mafia boss into bed with him. Despite the grand-daughter being a manipulative bitch who used her body to seduce powerful mafioso to do her bidding, Jack had a hit on his head until the other Serafin were able to convince the boss why it was not good to put hits on members of the Serafin.

Even if they were idiots.

Still, Jack was no longer allowed to bed people who had powerful ties with the mafia unless he was sure that no one would attempt to kill him after wards.

"Do we have to?" Heather grumbled.

Alice gave her a flat look. "Yes. Now shut up."

Noelle listened as Alice listed off what the Serafin were _not _allowed to do in amusement and disbelief. Some of the incidents that the famiglia were plausible and some... were not so much. How the hell did you tape someone to a ceiling? A ceiling that was practically impossible to reach, even with one of the tallest ladder designs known to man kind?

There were also a few incidents listed relating to two specific people in the car:

Heather beating down sixty men after she got in the face of a beautiful (but evil) mafioso woman and told her how much of a heartless bitch she was right in front of the woman's fiance and Jack charming the girlfriends of... thirty-three mafioso in six different famiglias.

Both of these incidents all in one night.

"...so, anything I missed?" Alice finally concluded, looking around.

The others were silent for a few seconds until Noelle broke the silence with a scoff.

"Seriously?"

Alice rolled her eyes and gave the blonde a sympathetic look that told Noelle she knew how she felt.

"Trust me; none of these rules would be on here if they hadn't happened before."

"Seriously?" Noelle turned to face Heather and Jack.

Heather stared back at her with a bored expression while Jack looked a little sheepish.

"Wow." Noelle shook her head. "Just... wow."

Alice smirked. "I know. Amazing, right?"

Noelle nodded.

Having had enough of her actions being scrutinized, Heather interrupted the silent understanding between the two girls.

"Hey Alice, why don't you tell her what to expect when we get there?"

"Right." Alice nodded, agreeing with Heather. She turned to Noelle with a serious express on her face.

"What?" Noelle said, suddenly wary of what she was expected to face at the Ball. Weapons ready to be used at a moment's notice? Most dangerous mafioso in the world in one room? Fights between various famiglias breaking out and having to duck under the nearest table to avoid getting hit?

"Since the Serafin is considered a rich and powerful famiglia, we tend to have people come up to us. A LOT."

Oh. Noelle saw where this was going.

"So basically these people who are already rich and powerful themselves are going to suck up to us." Noelle leaned back and folded her arms, gazing at Alice with curious eyes.

"That's not all." Feliciano spoke for the first time. "There will also be those who wish to... toy with us."

The word 'toy' brought some very unwanted images into Noelle's mind. "What?"

"They want to rile us up. Make us squirm. Make us feel scared." Heather nodded, her eyes narrowing. "Quite a few mafioso out there have realized that the Serafin have all been involved in... big events."

"Eh?" Was Noelle's _very _intelligent reply.

"We scare them. We don't seem human, so they try to get us to react at whatever they throw at us to prove that we're as mortal as they are. They're suspicious that we have the ability to 'see the future,'" Heather emphasized the last three words, "and they are all aware that we stand guard over something very powerful. Something powerful enough that can change the events and courses of the world of both past and present if it were to get in the wrong hands."

The Akashic Records.

"Oh." Was all Noelle said. She couldn't really find anything to say to that.

Alice smirked. "Well the Serafin are the_ crème de_ _la_ _crème_."

Cream of the crop. And according to Ranking Fuuta's, even more so than the Vongola.

0000

"Here." Heather tossed something at Noelle that the girl immediately caught.

A quick examination of the slightly heavy item with intricate designs in her hand told her it was a mask. A Venetian mask. It was constructed out of gold and had a butterfly theme to it.

"What's this?" Why on earth was Heather giving her a fancy Venetian mask? Well Noelle could guess that she was supposed to wear it, but the invitation hadn't said that it was a requirement.

"A mask."

Giving her a dead pan expression at the obvious being stated, Noelle rephrased her question better. "I got that. But why do I have to wear the mask? Is it one of those fancy balls in which you have to conceal your identity?"

Heather shook her head. "No. It's a Serafin tradition that dates back to two hundred years ago. One of the Serafin back then got scarred badly in the face... and let's just say that she was really, really vain."

Eliwood picked it up from there. "Rather than have people look at her disfigured face, that particular Serafin chose to hide their identity. But because she often used her beautiful face to her advantage, losing what made a huge part of her-" The former marquess paused, unsure how to continue.

"Basically, she wasn't happy and brood about it for years. So the Serafin decided to help her feel better by wearing masks to Balls or any other social occasions. Also, it helps to conceal our identity more."

"They could probably tell who we are anyways." Noelle said. "These don't exactly hide our hair. Just the top halves of our faces."

"It's tradition." Alice shrugged. "You do not mess with tradition. Now put on the mask so we can go in already."

It took a few minutes, but Noelle was finally able to put the mask on right so that it fit comfortably and wouldn't fall off in the middle of whatever she was doing.

"Everyone ready?" Alice asked. She was going to be the one leading them in.

Seeing that everyone had their masks on, she headed up the stairs and towards the huge doors where two men were standing guard. The rest of them followed after the silver haired girl.

The guards looked bored until they saw that the entire group was wearing masks. They straightened up when Alice presented the invitations to them.

"Of course!" Said the guard on the left. "We were expecting you Serafin! Go right on ahead!"

He and the other guard quickly acted to open the doors.

Noelle had to close her eyes at the sudden show of light, but it quickly ended when she adjusted to it soon enough.

What she saw made her jaw drop.

The ballroom the event was taking place in was not only big enough that it could fit hundreds of people, but it was also... beautiful. No other words could describe it. Then again, what else was she supposed to suspect from the country of Italy? How many famous artists originated from here? Like Leonardo da Vinci? Like the French, Italians were well known for it's beauty towards anything to do with the arts.

"Holy crap." Noelle breathed out. She hadn't realized that she was holding her breath.

Alice smiled at her. "Amazing, isn't it?"

If this was the sort of life the rich and famous led, Noelle could certainly see why so many people dreamed of being among them. Or marrying into a family that was loaded with money.

Having scanned the interior of the building, the blonde's gaze settled on the people.

And some of what she saw made her wince.

There were ridiculously good looking people, the kind that could only be found in either television dramas or anime (which was what she was kinda in). However, the ones who stood out were the not as gorgeous ones. They weren't ugly per se, but they wouldn't be able to attract someone on appearance alone.

Noelle winced when she saw a slim, petite woman with a chest size that had to be at least a double D. With such a slim figure, the woman's back _had _to hurt. After a few minutes of observation, she realized that it was likely the woman had gotten breast implants. There was no way they were natural, especially the way they stayed stiffly in place like that.

Hearing someone cough, she realized that Glen had seen the direction of where she was staring and didn't think highly of it. Noelle's cheeks flushed and she tried to focus her attention on other people.

However, she was unable to resume her people gazing as someone spotted them standing near the entrance. They pointed the Serafin out to the person next to them and soon enough the group of seven found themselves being swarmed by the masses.

"Serafin!"

"How nice to see you!"

Apparently the other Serafin were used to being bombarded by dozens people at once because they immediately put on their best smiles (okay Jack, Feliciano and Eliwood did while Glen looked as stoic as ever, Alice seemed to barely tolerate the peoples' presence and Heather didn't even bother) and made small talk (once again it was Jack, Feliciano, Eliwood and Alice).

Noelle just stood there, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Was she supposed to stand there and look pretty? Or should she try and sneak away while the others were occupied? Fat chance of getting away unnoticed considering that the crowd was squeezing against one another and had trapped them in a circle.

"Who is this?" Noelle suddenly found herself the center of attention.

The blonde was used to being put on the spot thanks to Sarah's ideas of training. But this was a put-in-the-spot situation she had never been put in before. She could feel the crowd's hungry stares and the way they looked at her was akin to a shark about ready to tear their prey apart.

Heather opened her mouth, about to say something but it was Alice spoke. "That's right. I believe no one in this room has met her yet. This ball is her debut."

The crowd leered at her and Noelle was aware that she was just a few seconds away from twitching; something that she didn't want to do in front of these kinds of people.

Noelle had a feeling that it was going to be a while before she ditched the crowd.

0000

After twenty minutes of having to stand there and not draw attention to herself with nothing to do other than listen to the others talk, Noelle was finally able to get away when the Vongola Ninth and his External Advisor finally made their appearance. So when the crowd was distracted, Noelle slipped away them and made it towards the refreshment table where she would be able to get something to eat and drink and then disappear into the background as best as she could until she could figure out a way to sneak over to where the Ninth was.

Or was that a good idea? Because 'sneaking' could easily be associated with 'assassination' and the last thing she wanted was to be filled with bullet holes. She still couldn't die, but she could still _feel_ the pain of getting shot. And that was nothing compared to how she would be able to explain how she survived that. No need to add to the circulating Serafin rumours that they were _immortal,_ or at least one form of it.

She snagged two shortbread cookies and a glass of punch from the table before hiding away in a corner.

"Mind if I join you?" A woman's voice asked.

Noelle glanced over at the source of the voice before choking on her punch and barely preventing herself from snorting the drink right back out of her nose.

Standing right next to her was Aria, the current head of the Giglio Nero Famiglia and Yuni's mother.

When she was finished choking on her drink, Noelle shook her head as an indication that no, she didn't mind at all (okay, she did mind but that wasn't because she disliked Aria at all or anything. Just that being in the presence of a person she recognized in the anime and manga but had never actually met in her second life time always brought out an uncomfortable feeling within her). And besides, what else was she suppose to say that wouldn't have Gamma suddenly appearing around the corner and threatening to shoot her for refusing his boss' request?

"Not at all." And Noelle made room for the mafiaso leader in the dark, out of sight corner.

"Thanks." She said before squeezing herself into the hiding place as well.

Silence settled between them as Aria did not seem inclined to say anything to Noelle and Noelle herself had no idea what to say to a powerful mafia boss. Finally, Aria decided to speak up.

"You're a Serafin? Is this your first event?" Seeing Noelle staring at her, she added. "I've never seen you before. I'm more acquainted with the ones you came in with. Especially that blond one with the long braid."

And Jack strikes again.

"Ah... yes." Noelle felt her cheeks go warm. She usually knew what to say, but she was speaking to a mafia boss for christ's sakes!

She highly doubted that Aria would shoot her for talking casually to her, but there was some sort of, for a lack of a better term, aura that surrounded her and told Noelle that she wasn't someone you should mess with.

Aria chuckled. "I could tell. You were the only one startled by the crowd."

The blonde's eye twitched. "Never again."

Was this the feeling Hibari got when he wandered around the school hallways during patrol? Was that suffocating feeling she had experienced earlier the very feeling Hibari felt when he thought people were crowding him?

Noelle suddenly found that she could sympathize with him.

Surprisingly, the two of them were able to hit it off really well, despite the age difference between them that made one an adult and the other a teenager. Aria had a bit of a childish side, something that Noelle already suspected considering the grief she made Tsuna go through during the Arcobaleno trials.

They spoke about numerous things ranging from what kind of clothes they preferred to wear to what they did during their free time. Unsurprisingly, Aria liked going shopping while Noelle liked reading. They didn't really talk about their personal lives because, well, what mafia leader spoke about their private lives with others and the Serafin were often secretive about who they really were.

At sometime during their chat, Aria accidentally let it slip that she had a daughter way younger than Noelle.

"Daughter?" Noelle blurted out. She didn't mean to, but the word left her lips before she could do anything about it.

The woman blinked a bit at her slip up, but was able to maintain her composure. She looked around as if she expected someone to be listening into their conversation before relaxing. "Yes. I have a daughter, but her existence is kept a secret from even the other Giglio Nero."

Noelle nodded to tell Aria she understood. Being related to a member of a mafioso was a danger in itself.

"I see." She smiled, recalling the Yuni she had seen in the anime. "I'm sure your daughter will grow up to be a good person. Beautiful as well if she takes after you."

The woman gave a small laugh. "I hope so. When she grows up, I want her to be a kind and charming young girl like you."

"Eh?" Noelle's face reddened. "Kind and charming?"

Noelle could label herself a number of things, but the words 'kind' and 'charming' weren't exactly at the top of that list.

"Yes." Aria smiled. "Kind and charming. But strong as well and ready to face anything head on. Just like the type of person you are."

Was she serious? Before Noelle could ask the woman on whether she really thought that about her, she heard a man's voice calling for the boss of the Giglio Nero herself.

"There you are!" The man who was calling his boss said when he discovered their hiding place. "Boss, we've been looking all over for you!"

Noelle stared at him and then at the man who came up behind him. They were both wearing black suits, like any respectable member of an Italian famiglia would wear. The man who was addressing Aria had gelled back blond hair while the other one was bald and had dark skin.

They were Gamma and Tazaru of the Giglio Nero and in the future, Millefore.

After a bit of arguing that sounded a lot like the ones that went on between a married couple, Gamma noticed that Noelle was standing next to his boss.

"Who is this?" He asked, his eyes scanning her as if she was a suspicious person.

"Ah, she's the youngest of the Serafin. This is her first event and since she seemed a bit overwhelmed, I decided to help her out." Aria explained.

So the woman purposely sought her out? Noelle blinked.

He was still eying her critically. Tazaru was doing the same, but he didn't have the same impression that Gamma had of Noelle suddenly turning into a dangerous psychopath and turning on his boss with a hidden weapon.

"There you are!" As Noelle had been trying to think of a way to quickly duck out of Gamma and Tazaru's intimidating stares, she heard a familiar voice sound through out the crowd.

Turning, she saw Dino heading straight towards her. And since fate had decided that the Cavallone head was completely useless without his men and none of his men were following him, he proceeded to trip and bring half of the refreshments and the table they sat on down with him.

Wincing, Noelle waited until she was sure the damage was done before heading over and checking to see if the man was alright. She lifted the punch bowl off his head and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Hi Dino. You were looking for me?" Noelle instantly hauled the man up before proceeding to clean up the mess he made as best as she could.

"Ha ha. Yeah." Dino was rubbing the back of his head, looking a little sheepish. The noise had drawn the attentions of the other mafioso but when they saw who the cause of the mess was, they quickly shook their heads and continued on with what they were doing in the first place. "The um, Ninth wants to see you now."

Oh. Right. Wasn't that the reason she had come to Italy in the first place?

"Sorry about that." Her lips tilted up in a smile. "I kinda forgot about it when I was trying to escape from the crowd. Then I met up with a really nice woman and we started speaking about stuff, so, um, yeah... I got distracted."

"Woman?" Dino was looking past her and there was a puzzled expression on his face.

_'Don't tell me...' _Noelle turned and saw that Aria and the two men were gone.

"Well, she _was _there. Anyways, we should probably go now. I don't want to keep the Ninth waiting."

As the Cavallone and Serafin quickly made their way, they didn't see that they were still being watched.

"I hope I get the chance to meet and talk with her again." The head of the Giglio Nero said, watching as Noelle prevented Dino from tripping over someone a third time.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Gamma grumbled. He was still a little sore that his boss had ditched him and Tazaru, leaving the men to panic for half an hour on her wereabouts until the latter had spotted her. "She maybe young, but she's still a _Serafin_."

Aria chuckled at her subordinate. While he was naturally wary of one of the most influential and secretive famiglias in the world, he was also a little bit sore about the Serafin with the blond braid. At one event, the man had hit on her and she played along until Gamma came onto the scene, about ready to shoot him dead.

"Yes. I enjoyed speaking with her, even though she didn't say much about her personal life." A small smile tinged with sadness appeared on Aria's features. "I just hope that I get a chance to talk to her again."

"Huh?" Gamma stared at her.

But Aria shook her head. It wasn't the man's business to know that like a majority of the Serafin, it was likely that the girl she had spoken to would either die before she reached the age of twenty or die somewhere in her early twenties.

They always did.

0000

"This is the place, I'm sure of it!" Dino announced as they stopped in front of a room in the dark hallway. Blue eyes stared at him disbelievingly and he pouted. "It is! I swear this is the room this time!"

Noelle knew Dino wasn't a liar, but he had already opened three different doors. There had been nothing in the first two rooms, but the last one...

...it was going to be a long time before she got those images out of her head.

"If we walk into another couple going at it..."

"I said I was sorry!" Dino's face was even redder than hers. "This isn't the sort of place people would do _that _kind of thing in, so..." He paused. "Can we not talk about it? Please?"

The man sounded so much like a child that was pleading with their parents to eat a cookie before dinner time that Noelle sighed before plastering a smile on her face despite the burning feeling of her cheeks.

"Fine. We'll drop it! But this better be the right room!"

Dino took a deep breath before opening the door. As soon as he did, Noelle had to cover her eyes for the second time that night to prevent herself from being entirely blinded by the bright light.

"Ninth! I brought her!" Dino sounded relieved, almost as if he expected Noelle to beat him black and blue if he had gotten it wrong a fourth time. He stepped to the side to allow Noelle to go into the room.

Nervous, the blonde walked inside and much to her own relief saw that the Vongola Ninth and his External Advisor were the only ones in the room. Better than having the entire Ninth Generation Vongola, but it was still pretty intimidating to be in the two mens' presence- especially considering that one of them happened to be the dad of the person she was in charge of.

"Thank you, Dino." The old man, Timoteo, nodded at the Cavallone head.

Dino bowed down in respect before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. That left only Noelle and the two men.

The Ninth got right down to business.

"So you are the Serafin who is in charge of Sawada Tsunayoshi?" He asked.

Noelle curtsied, her heart pounding painfully in her chest and loudly in her ears but maintained the calm, respectable facade on the outside. "Yes. I am the Serafin who was given the task of watching over him."

She stood up straight and stared right into the eyes of the two men. She hoped she wouldn't screw this up; she couldn't even think of what would happen next if she did.

Timoteo's stern expression softened. "...I see."

He didn't look so intimidating any more, but that didn't mean Noelle should let her guard down.

"Reborn has told me all about you." Of course the baby did. He reported _everything _to the Ninth, which meant that he had probably heard about the kidnapping and how Noelle trashed Tsuna during the time that she had been under Mukuro's control.

Oh god, she hoped that he wouldn't bring that up.

As if sensing what she was thinking about, the Ninth chuckled. "He did mention your role during the Kokuyo Incident," Noelle's face fell and her cheeks flamed red, "and while getting captured by the enemy was unfortunate, you apparently kept silent about the true identity of who the Vongola Tenth candidate was despite the means that had been used against you to get that information."

Noelle's face was still red.

"Reborn also mentioned that you saved Tsunayoshi's life in Mafialand after he nearly drowned."

Did Reborn mention that _he _and Colonello had been the reason why Tsuna was placed in that life and death situation in the first place?

"...ah, yes."

If Reborn was telling him everything, then why did he invite her to the Ball in the first place?

And then the Ninth smiled. "I'm glad to know that such a young lady was assigned to him. I'm sure you will raise him to be an excellent mafia boss."

Just when Noelle thought that the blush on her face was dying down, the current leader of the Vongola just had to say something that would have her cheeks light up like Rudolph's red nose that guided him and the other reindeer through the cold christmas night.

"Thanks." She didn't know if she should be grateful or weirded out that the man thought she would raise Tsuna into being a _mafia boss _of all the things Tsuna could be when he grew up.

0000

"So what did you think?" Timoteo asked his External Advisor once Noelle had left the room and he was certain that she was out of ear shot.

The man who had a stern and stoic expression on his face the entire time during the conversation between his boss and the Serafin broke out into a grin. "I like her! My son has such a pretty Guardian Angel."

Timoteo shook his head. Of course that was what Iemitsu would notice.

"Yes. But do you think the right choice was made in the choosing of her being the one who looked after your son?"

Iemitsu's grin died down to a smile. "The Serafin don't choose lightly in assigning a task like that."

Yes. Every Serafin had succeeded in protecting and 'raising' whoever the chosen person of their Guardianship was.

He sighed. Already, the old man had seen qualities in Tsunayoshi that were similar to the first head of the Vongola. It was with him that the first generation of the Serafin came forward and revealed themselves to the underworld as being powerful- so powerful that most people at the beginning of their reign would merely snort at what they thought were 'exaggerated' tales of their feats until they witnessed that strength for themselves.

Timoteo recalled the tale of his father. His father, a womanizer who could charm every woman he came across who was also a very kind person happened to be a Serafin. He had been given the task of watching over the Eight.

Eventually, he and his mother Daniella had fallen in love and in turn, Timoteo had been born to them. Even now, he could recall the memories he had of his father; the man who at times, seemed tired and older than he really was. He and his mother knew that he carried a heavy burden, but his father never told them under the laws of the Serafin. He had been in his son's life for thirteen years until he was forced to leave them through death.

He had died during a mission protecting his mother, the Eighth leader of the Vongola.

That wasn't the first time a member of the Vongola had fallen in love with the Serafin; surprisingly, the first person who had fallen for one of the mafia's 'angels' had been the very person who started the legacy of the Vongola himself, Primo.

Through records, he learned that Primo had fallen for the first generation Serafin who had watched over him. He, the Storm Guardian, and the Serafin grew up alongside each other as childhood friends.

Her name had been Diana.

From what Timoteo gathered during the times he had been searching through records that regarded this enigmatic famiglia, she had been very different from most girls in that era. A beautiful kind and charming girl, but she was very much a tom boy. A strong young woman who had helped Primo during the Vongola's darkest hours. She had brown hair and green eyes that shone like emeralds.

What happened to her afterwards was unclear, but he assumed that she had died young like the rest of them. His own father passed away in his late thirties and was apparently a rare case among the usually short-lived famiglia.

He remembered his father spending as much time as he could with his son and wife when he wasn't off on missions. It wasn't until much later that Vongola Ninth found out that the reason for this was because his father had known he would pass away. So before his life among the living expired, he did his best to spend as much time as he could with his family, to give them as many good memories as he could.

Timoteo wondered if Tsuna, in time as well, would fall in love with his own Guardian Angel.

0000

The morning after the Ball, Noelle walked into the kitchen to see a girl with shoulder length black hair standing on the kitchen counter trying to reach for something at the top shelf.

"Stupid... six-year old... body!" The girl was snarling.

She didn't seem to notice that Noelle had entered the room and was watching her trying to retrieve something. When Noelle saw what exactly the little girl was reaching for, she deadpanned.

"Aren't you a little too young to be drinking coffee?" She asked.

The girl turned to face her with an expression on her face very unbefitting for a six year old before bringing her attention back to the out of reach container that was essential in making her caffeinated drink.

"If I was really a six year old, sure. But I'm not!" The girl jumped and finally got the container. Unfortunately, she also fell backwards from the counter she had been standing on and landed on the hard marble kitchen floor with a thud, spilling the contents all over herself.

Noelle had figured that much out. She had been horribly reverted back to the age of six when she first arrived in the world.

"So how old are you? Originally?" Noelle asked as she picked the girl up and started cleaning up the mess. She was used to this sort of thing whenever she had to watch I-pin or Lambo. And also... her little sister back when she had still been alive.

"Thirty-six." Was the prompt reply.

Noelle nearly dropped the can that had held the coffee. "What?"

In Serafin terms, that was a pretty decent age to go.

Shaking off her surprise, Noelle decided to ask the next question. "I haven't seen you before... when did you get here?"

"About two months ago." The girl looked absolutely glum.

As she cleaned up, Noelle took a good look at the little girl. She had black hair and dark brown eyes and the girl's facial features hinted at her descent being of asian origin. But she also had pale skin as well, so that said that there was a good chance one of her parents was white.

Seeing Noelle's curious gaze, the girl rolled her eyes. "My dad was white. My mom was filipino. So that makes me half and half." She paused, and Noelle was had the feeling that she being critically looked over. She had grown used to the feeling by now, but being by a girl who looked like she was six? That was a bit disconcerting.

Finally, the girl spoke. "My name's Kristina. People call me Kristy for short. Who are you?"

Noelle snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head before smiling at the girl. "I'm Noelle. Nice to meet you Kristy."

The girl rewarded her with a small smile. "Nice to meet you Noelle."

* * *

><p><strong>Finally! Finished!<strong>

**Sorry this took such a long time to upload, but I was busy with quite a few things, such as having to write two essays. Anyways, now I have focus on my exams so this might be my last update until, like, in two weeks. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**Yes, the little girl introduced at the end is vital for the story. For those who also read my other stories, you may recognize her.  
><strong>

**Also, the previous chapter had twenty three reviews! That's the most reviews I've ever gotten for a chapter in TGA! I love you guys! And keep reviewing!**


	24. Kristy

**Finally, exams are over and it's Christmas break for me! Whoo! *Does happy dance in room* **

**Now that I don't have to study for finals and stuff, that means I can now finally concentrate on my fanfiction and goof off with out any repercussions! Yes!**

**Anyways, if you haven't been told yet, I now have quite the collection of fanart with most of it done by EddiexFreddie on Fanfiction. If you want her user name on Deviantart, it's EddiexFreddy with the difference of the 'ie' being replaced with 'y'. I'm sure I've already told you this about a million times Eddie, but thanks so much for the fanart!**

**And now on to the disclaimer. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I do however own Noelle and the Serafin who are not alternate versions of some of your favorite characters in other works of fiction. **

* * *

><p><strong>Kristy<strong>

Kristy's eye twitched as she watched Jack take a bite of one of her pancakes.

"Those are _my _pancakes." She said, her hands flexing into a fist and then her fingers stretching out as she thought of strangling the man who was eating _her _breakfast. She tried to snatch the plate back from him, but the man moved out of the way and the six year old ended up falling out of her seat and flat on her face on the tiled floor.

Noelle could only watch with resigned amusement as the older man in his twenties continued eating the pancakes that belonged to the thirty-six turned six year old girl who was twitching on the ground.

After Noelle had made the pancakes with Kristy's guidance on making the batter and how not to burn the thin mixture that was placed in the oil covered pan, Jack had showed up just minutes after they sat down and grabbed the closest plate to him, which just so happened to be Kristy's.

Pushing herself off the floor, Kristy snarled before tackling the man and attacking him with a vengeance.

"What's going on?" Alice deadpanned as soon as she walked into the kitchen to see what the commotion was about.

Noelle sighed as she watched Kristy trying to hit Jack with one of her fists while he playfully avoided the blows and said something afterwards that served to enrage Kristy further.

"Jack ate her pancakes." Noelle said.

"Really?" The way Alice rolled her grey eyes made Noelle think that something similar had happened in the past.

"Does he like teasing her or something?" Noelle asked. Now she was watched Kristy attempting to bite the man's arm off.

Alice gestured towards the door and Noelle realized that if they were going to talk about it, it would be better to do so somewhere else and not in a room in which a little girl was screaming several obscenities that were normally beyond and inappropriate for someone her age. Noelle frowned, wondering why they needed to talk about such a minor thing out of others' hearing but nodded and then held up a hand to say that she would be with Alice in a minute.

After the silver haired girl left, she pulled Kristy off of Jack and then placed the six year old in front of _her _pancakes before walking after the Serafin who was responsible for the famiglia's intelligence.

0000

"What's this?" Noelle asked as she examined the folder that Alice had just given her.

The two of them had gone to Alice's room to talk, a part of the mansion that was probably supposed to be a safe haven against eavesdroppers, if the signs warning others to stay out on the door were anything to go by. Not only were there warnings to stay out, there also happened to be warnings of extreme pain towards those who chose to ignore those warnings.

"That would be Kristy's files during her first life."

Noelle stared at Alice.

"Is it okay to just hand me someone else's file like this?" Noelle wanted to read what was in her hands, but she also had to respect other people's privacy. Especially if that privacy belonged to someone as temperamental as Kristy.

"Why not? She's going to be moving to Japan with you."

It took thirty seconds for Noelle's brain to register that statement.

"WHAT?"

"She's moving in with you and the others."

At first, Noelle thought she was joking but seeing the seriousness in the older girl's eyes she knew that it was the truth. Placing her face into her hands, Noelle groaned. Great. More people. If this kept up, her house hold could be comparable to Tsuna's and the crazy guests who forced themselves into his company.

"You should probably read her file." Alice said, forcing Noelle to look up at her blankly. "She's not going to tell you her history herself, so you'll have to learn it second hand. She just clamps up instantly if you mention her past."

Noelle planned to skim the pages at first and make note of the facts that stood out, but as she read she came more and more immersed into the girl's history.

Kristy's former life... there was no easy way to go about it... had been tragic.

At the age of sixteen, everything for her had literally gone up in flames after a burglary gone very wrong when three people broke into her house. She was the sole survivor of the incident besides the very burglars who were at fault for the destruction of two houses and five lives; her home, her parents, her older sister and brother... and her little sister. It took only several hours for Kristy's entire world to change completely and it had left her a shadow of her former self.

Unsurprisingly the girl had gone through a very long period of bitter, anger filled mourning, but at the same time she was able to manage her education. She eventually became the type of detective on the police force that criminals soon began to fear as she was both efficient and ruthless in her pursuits of the truth and justice. But even among her fellow officers she wasn't well liked but that was because of her ice queen persona.

And at the age of thirty-six, she was killed on duty when a bomb went off. It wasn't the actual blast that killed her, but the amount of debris that hit her afterwards thanks to the blast. She had gotten impaled multiple times and died due to blood loss.

"This is..." Noelle frowned. There was really no way to re-word this in a nice way. It would also explain Kristy's difficult attitude.

"Kristy didn't want to do the trial, but the angel in charge of her made her anyways."

"Why?" Noelle asked.

"It's in the profile."

It took the girl a few minutes, but she found the answer to her question. According to the file, Kristy had killed two people through out the course of her life. Of course, it was in self-defense and she wasn't charged for murder because both options had been last resorts on her list until she was forced to use her gun, but it was still taken note of by the angels of judgement. As a result, she couldn't go to heaven until she completed her trial.

And for her trial... Noelle had no idea what it was since it hadn't been written down.

"What's her trial?" She asked after going through the sheets several times.

"For some reason, the angel in charge didn't put that down but she did give us everything else."

0000

She was going to put a fork through him. She really was.

Kristy scowled and gave the man sitting across the table from her the deadliest glare she had in her arsenal that had scared the living shit out of most of the criminals she had caught when she had still been a detective on the force.

Unfortunately, those deadly glares didn't work on him because all he did in return was smile so brightly that she had to look away before she was blinded by his teeth and then hug her so tightly that she couldn't breathe and declare that she was absolutely adorable. After two months of this, she figured that her glares did not work on idiots incapable of reading the atmosphere around them.

Just as she raised her arm, ready to throw the eating utensil at Jack's face, someone cleared their throat and she reluctantly lowered it and settled for glowering at him instead.

Jack's much more better behaved other half had come into the kitchen earlier. One look at the scenario and already he knew he was going to have to stay in the room and do damage control. So he then proceeded to force the blond man to sit on one side of the table and then brought Kristy back to the other one (again) and forced her to eat the very food that started the whole thing in the first place.

Glen then sat himself in the middle of the table to make sure that Jack wouldn't say or do anything that would set off Kristy's temper and Kristy wouldn't launch herself at the man's throat in case that was exactly what his friend would do.

She really couldn't wait until she went to Japan with Heather... and Noelle.

Because that was when her trial would start.

The trial of watching over Noelle and making observations that she would report straight back to Seria. Kristy wondered at first why she had to make observations about another Guardian Angel, but she wasn't able to pry any answers from the sadistic angel.

That's right.

_Sadistic._

No other word could be used to describe her. She had showed Kristy images of what Noelle was doing on her crystal... thing... whatever it was to prepare herself. And at the parts that involved Noelle suffering through the regiment of hell courtesy of a just as sadistic red head, Seria had seemed genuinely amused.

So after watching videos of the blonde who was in charge of the main character of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, at least in the universe she came from, Seria explained her assignment to her. For four years, Kristy would be watching over Noelle and telling Seria everything she observed. After four years, she would then get new orders to watch over someone else.

Kristy didn't like babysitting, but she figured that defying an angel wasn't a good idea. Especially since said angel could make her life hell and stuff.

Though Kristy wondered why she wanted her to watch over Tsuna's Guardian Angel. Judging by how Seria said she wasn't allowed to tell even the other Serafin about her mission, she had a feeling that her 'mission' was an unusual one, even amongst them. Kristy tried to ask, but Seria immediately sent her back down into the world of the living instead of choosing to answer her question.

From what Kristy saw in the crystal, there was nothing unusual about Noelle. She was a perfectly ordinary down to earth girl who got exasperated at some of the craziest moments she was forced into like any other (normal) person in her place would.

Well, unless you wanted to count the fact that she didn't fit the stereotypical alpha bitch blonde who controlled the social scene with an iron fist and wasn't very smart.

Kristy finished off her pancakes and proceeded to dump them in the sink, immediately going to her room after wards to dwell even more on her mission.

0000

_"Kufufufu..." _

_Noelle stared at the older boy who was standing in front of her. The boy with hair fashioned in a pineapple style and had two different coloured eyes: red and blue. _

_It was Mukuro. _

_"What are you doing here?" Noelle asked, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him. _

_Yes, the master illusionist was going to be ally of theirs, along side with Chrome/Nagi, during the Varia and Future arcs. But the guy had also imprisoned her for five days, tortured her all for the sake of finding out who the future Tenth Vongola was and then took possession of her body like a puppet master and pit her against the very person she was supposed to be guiding. _

_He wasn't going to get off _that _easily._

_Mukuro pretended to look hurt. "If I didn't know any better, I would have to say that you don't look too pleased to see me."_

_"That's because I don't." _

_"I have a favor to ask of you." _

_The guy barges into her unconscious mind with no regards to her privacy and then demands that she do a favor for him. What. Noelle's disbelief must have shown on her face because the illusionist took one look at her and then gave that annoying chuckle of his._

_"If you do this, I will repay the favor back to you should you decide that it needs to paid back." _

_Mukuro owing her a favor? _Mukuro _owing_ her _a favor?_

_That was definitely too good of an opportunity for her to pass up._

_"Alright." Noelle nodded. "What's this favor of yours that you need done? By the way, it can't be illegal._ Too _illegal anyways._"

_Mukuro's smile didn't waver. "You might have do some... underhanded things to make the ends meet." _

_"What is it?"_

_"I need you to break out a young girl named Nagi from a hospital who is being held under observation due to a 'miraculous recovery'. Or if you want to do it fairly, you can pay for her release instead, but they will probably demand a large amount of money for that."_

_Chrome. There was no doubt about it. The once near death girl was alive thanks to Mukuro conjuring up illusionary organs for her. _

_"...okay." Noelle reluctantly agreed to what Mukuro was asking of her. Chrome had to get to Kokuyo Center somehow, after all._

_"Good. I'll be watching through Nagi's eyes to make sure you get her to Kokuyo Center where Chikuse and Ken are keeping low." _

_"Don't worry. I have no intention of backing out of my part of the deal. Besides, I _really _want that favor." _

_The pineapple boy smirked. "You're cute, you know that?" _

_A look of horror washed over Noelle's face and before she could ask if he really meant those words when she heard someone else calling her name. Funny, whoever was calling her name sounded pretty far away..._

Noelle's blue eyes snapped open and she saw Kristy standing over her with a water bottle in hand. The girl was unscrewing the top and once she got it open, she turned towards her.

"What were you planning to do with that?" Noelle asked, wariness in her voice as she eyed the bottle.

"Wake you up." Was it just her, or did she detect a hint of disappointment in Kristy's voice? "We're going to land soon, so you need to get your stuff ready."

Kristy grudgingly screwed the cap on and placed the bottle of water in the side pocket of her pink barbie backpack. Jack had bought the backpack as a joke and Kristy, to show her appreciation of the hideous gift, chucked a ceramic mug at his head. Though us unflattering as the image of the super skinny blonde that many feminists considered an insult to women all around the globe, it helped reinforce to the six year old image of the newest Serafin.

Noelle knew that that Kristy was going to be hard pressed in getting other people to believe that she was just an ordinary six year old girl, even without the association to the strongest mafia famiglia in the world.

Her expressions were too mature for a girl her age, her tone of voice towards others unrealistically scathing and her outlook on life more cynical and bitter than even the most 'emo' teenagers, much less someone just entering elementary school. Then there was the use of language that no kid her age should even hear, much less used period. When they had still been in Italy, Kristy had gone and ripped into another obnoxious passenger who was making things even more difficult for the workers. Judging by the passenger's english accent (and attitude) the woman was from somewhere in the States. As much as Noelle hated stereotyping just how arrogant Americans could be, being an American herself, there were still quite a number that defined the stereotype and gave others a bad name.

But Noelle had to admit, the look on the woman's face as Kristy verbally tore her apart was completely priceless. Even with the woman's snarks and sneers sent in the little filipina's direction that would make a child burst into tears, Kristy hadn't backed down and continued to scream what she thought of the woman and her lovely bedside manners and how she was an embarrassment to their country. In the end, the lady was subdued by security and Noelle and Heather were given a talk about restraining the little girl who was with them. They hadn't gone to hard on them since the fight had been between a woman in her early to late twenties and a girl who was seemingly just barely out of kindergarten.

Naturally, the sympathy went to the little girl. Neither she or Heather bothered to correct the staff on the fact that the six year old girl was originally thirty years older than she looked.

Just as Kristy said, a voice came over the plane announcements and said that they were going to land soon. Noelle tugged on her seat belt and asked Kristy if she needed help. The girl just shook her head and pulled her seat belt over herself without any help.

Noelle sighed; getting along with Kristy was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

0000

"Noelle-chan!"

Noelle stopped in place as she thought she heard someone calling her name. The airport was crowded and she could hear the other passengers talking, so it was hard to tell. Concluding that it was part of her imagination, she started walking again.

"NOELLE-CHAN!"

... or maybe it wasn't just all in her head because she was now sure that someone had been calling her name. Scanning the crowd, her face lit up when she spotted a very familiar person waving at her while trying to avoid the onslaught of the rest of the crowd. Forgetting about Kristy, Heather, and her luggage, she ran up to Tsuna who was waiting with his best friends Gokudera and Yamamoto and, of course, his spartan tutor Reborn.

"Hi guys!" She said when she came up to them.

Yamamoto ruffled her hair. "Long time no see, Noelle-chan! How was Italy?"

Noelle gave him a tired smile. "It was never a dull moment, that's for sure."

From Jack teasing Heather and Kristy to the two girls trying to kill him after wards. Basically, the usual with the Serafin and their crazy antics. Noelle spent a good chunk of it dragging her soon-to-be housemate away from the blond or anyone else who annoyed her. But it was mostly Jack that Noelle had to pull Kristy away from. According to Alice, it would be good practice once Kristy started living with them.

The only good thing Noelle could say about that was that Jack wouldn't be in Japan annoying the hell out of Kristy.

Before they could start a conversation, someone kicked Noelle from behind. Seeing the boys and Reborn staring at who she assumed was the person who kicked her, she turned to see Kristy with annoyance written all over her face.

"Kristy?" Noelle said, confused.

"Help us with the luggage!" She snorted. Before Noelle could reply, she found herself being pulled forward and towards where Heather was waiting for them. Noelle turned towards them to say that she would later come back, but was distracted by Reborn's wide eyes as he stared after her and Kristy. The words in the blonde's throat died down when she saw the most outward display of emotion from Reborn she had ever seen. But she didn't have much time to think about it as Kristy pulled her forward again when she started slowing down.

After Noelle was burdened with carrying most of the luggage because she happened to be the strongest out of the three, they met up with the others again.

"Who is this?" Reborn asked, pointing to Kristy. He seemed to regain his composure from earlier and was now looking like his 'innocent' self again.

"Er..." Noelle wondered how the others would react if they found out that Kristy was a Serafin?

She was saved from saying it herself when Heather answered for her. "Meet the newest member of the Serafin, Kristina."

"It's Kristy." The girl piped up immediately with a scowl.

"Eh?" Tsuna yelped. "But she's so young!"

Noelle gave him an amused look while Kristy stared at him flatly like he was an idiot. Tsuna yelped at the glare the latter was giving him.

"We all have to start somewhere, Tsuna."

"But-but-" Tsuna stammered. "How old is she?"

Kristy answered before Noelle could. "I'm six." She said through gritted teeth. From the bitter tone in her voice, Kristy was still sore about reverting thirty years in age.

The boys and Reborn turned to stare at Kristy strangely. Noelle wondered why they found the girl interesting until she realized that Kristy's facade of just being a six year old had slipped up. Noelle slapped her hand against her forehead and their attention was immediately directed towards her.

"C'mon Kristy, let's get something to eat." Heather declared, throwing mentioned girl over her shoulder.

"I'm not hungry."

"You barely ate on the plane."

"I told you, I'm not hungry! Put me down!" And this was followed by a string of words that had many others turning and staring at her, gaping.

Noelle groaned. She had no illusion that Kristy was going to be anything but easy to handle from her frequent yelling and insulting people, to getting angry a lot, and to an attitude that was very unbefitting for a child. But it was only day one and just as they reached the airport, Kristy had proven that tranquilizers that were enough to down an elephant would be needed when it came to dealing with her.

Lifting her hand away from her face, she saw her school mates gaping in Kristy's direction as she continued to yell obscenities at Heather while Reborn merely frowned.

"Congratulations Gokudera," Noelle said with a wry smile on her face. "You now have competition."

"Wow," Yamamoto was rubbing the back of his head in that way he usually did whenever a really awkward situation popped up. "Little kids sure grow up fast these days."

Everyone (except Reborn) stared at him disbelief.

"Actually, that's just Kristy." Noelle sighed, shaking her head.

"That's what I thought. I've never seen any other six year old girl act as she does; more like I-pin and the stupid cow." Reborn snorted.

Considering that Lambo and I-pin were actual five year olds soon to be turning six, there were no surprises there. But she could hardly tell them that Kristy wasn't really six years old.

"She's had a hard life." Noelle said. "She's an orphan and was forced to survive on her own for a while until the Serafin took her in."

Which was partially the truth. Even though Kristy hadn't become an orphan until she was sixteen, Noelle assumed that she had been the one to look after herself from that point on when her family died. And the Serafin did take her in; just not off the streets as most people would think.

"Not even the most hardened six year old would act that way." Reborn snorted.

Damn it. Why was Reborn so well-versed in the way of human nature?

Noelle shrugged. "Well, that's how Kristy was pretty much like when I first met her so I can't really say anything to that. And no one told me anything about her life before she became a Serafin except the necessary facts."

"Is she filipino?" Gokudera asked, recovering from the shock of meeting her newest house mate."She looks filipino, but..."

"Half. Her dad was born in America."

Reborn smacked Tsuna across the head and the boy yelped, rubbing the back of his head and glaring at his tutor.

"Reborn!" He yelled. "What was that for?"

"What kind of gentleman are you, Tsuna?" Reborn snorted. "Are you just going to let a lady carry all that heavy luggage by herself?"

"It's fine." Noelle assured them. "This is nothing. My family has me carrying their luggage all the time."

All the heavy luggage, mind you. Their excuse?

"You're much stronger than us, Noelle!"

But Reborn was adamant about getting Tsuna to help as part of his training to be a mafia boss, so in the end she had no choice but to do as the baby asked. She gave Yamamoto and Gokudera a suitcase each and handed over the lightest two bags on her person to the Tsuna to make things easier for him.

"Ack!"

"Tenth!"

As Tsuna was struggling with her bags, he nearly got hit by a security cart. Of course, this resulted in Gokudera whipping out his dynamite to throw at the people who nearly ran over his boss and _that _resulted in security taking them all in. They spent the next four hours being interrogated and were finally released after Heather and Kristy found out where they were and made several phone calls.

It was good to be home.

0000

0000

_**First year of**** highschool**_** - EXTRA  
><strong>

With her finger just inches from pressing the doorbell, Noelle sighed.

It was time to get this over with.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the doorbell and braced herself. A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal the number one voted Yamato Nadeshiko, Nana Sawada. When she saw Noelle, a look of relief crossed over her face. No doubt, like Yamamoto and Gokudera, she was worried about Tsuna and was hoping she could do something about his mood.

"Noelle-chan!" She said. "Did you come to see Tsuna?"

"Ah, yes. He's... I was concerned about him since he hasn't been to school for a week."

Nana gave her a tired smile. "That boy... I've been trying to get him to come out of his room, but he just refuses to. I usually have Fuuta-kun deliver his food to his room, otherwise he doesn't eat."

"Hopefully I'll be able to convince him to come out."

"Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun have tried. And so has Haru-chan." She sounded absolutely exhausted when she mentioned Haru's name.

Noelle winced. No doubt she was talking about Haru's visit two days ago.

The brunette somehow got it into her mind that Tsuna needed some cheering up and had gone to his house with that intent in mind. Needless to say, it didn't go over so well as it ended up with Tsuna shouting at her from the other side of the door and Haru going home in tears at his harsh words. Now Haru was also locked up in her room crying about how mean Tsuna had been to her.

"Yeah, I think this has gone on long enough." Noelle rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. But at this point, she realized that something had to be done soon or else.

Those were Reborn's words, not hers. And funny thing about Reborn... why hadn't he kicked Tsuna out of his bed himself?

Noelle had intended to wait a little longer before confronting Tsuna, but the others had asked her to try and talk to him since they hadn't had any luck so far. For some reason, people seemed to be convinced that she was the only one who could talk sense into him these days. She had balked at the claim, saying that other people would be able to if they knew how to talk to him. But even Gokudera, who was Tsuna's right hand man, had bitterly admitted to her face that she was much better at convincing his beloved boss than he was.

Which, coming from the prideful Gokudera, was definitely something.

Before she knew it, Noelle was already standing outside Tsuna's room.

"Tsuna?" She rapped on the door. "It's me."

"Go away." Came the muffled sound of his voice through the wooden barrier that stood between them.

Since Noelle hadn't been expecting a warm reception, she wasn't offended.

"Not until you get out of your room. A few days is fine, now it's just getting tedious."

"I don't care." Was the response.

Ugh. Not even two minutes into a conversation and already she could tell that she would need an advil or tylenol or whatever prescription Nana had in the house later on.

Noelle slammed her fist on the door and inwardly cursed at the wood splintering underneath the force.

"Look, I know it's hard to accept the fact that the person you like doesn't like you the same way, but that's how life works. You can't win them all."

That was the entire reason Tsuna had locked himself in his room and had refused to go to school. He had gotten rejected.

The girl of his dreams, the one he had liked for several years and was constantly thinking of, had rejected him.

Sasagawa Kyoko had rejected him, saying that she thought of Tsuna as a friend and only as a friend.

Noelle could understand his pain, and as such, had left him alone for the first few days ever since the event. She knew that he wanted some time alone, and was able to convince the others to do the same. But after four days had passed, they decided to go and see how he was doing.

He was still moping. And no amount of talking and threatening would get him out of his mood.

This time there was no reply.

"Tsuna," Noelle growled, feeling herself growing annoyed. "Open the damned door or I'll break it down."

Still nothing.

Alright, he didn't want to do this the easy way? Well that just meant that Noelle was going to have to use the alternative to the easy way.

"Fine." She said, stepping back. She mentally apologized for what she was about to do and reminded herself that the Serafin had enough money to pay for damages.

Bringing back her leg, she brought it forward again as she kicked the door as hard as she could. There was a loud crack as the wooden barrier broke right down the middle from her powerful kick.

Pushing the shattered pieces of the door aside, she walked right into the bedroom to find Tsuna gaping at what she had just done.

"Get dressed," She ordered him. "We're going out whether you like it or not and I'll drag you kicking and screaming out the door if I have to."

0000

"Tsuna, take it." Noelle said, shoving the ice cream right into his face that it nearly smooshed into his nose.

With a sigh, the boy did just as she asked before she sat down next to him. Surprisingly, Tsuna had been quite cooperative after she broke into his room (thought that could be because she broke down his door). He got dressed and then allowed Noelle to drag him to wherever she wanted to...

...which was the park.

They ate the ice cream in silence for a few minutes until Noelle spoke. "So Tsuna... anything you want to talk about?"

"No."

"Really?" Noelle was skeptical. "Is that why you've decided to become a hikikomori?"

Tsuna glared at her, but she wasn't phased at all.

"Getting rejected sucks." Noelle sighed. "I know. But you can't dwell over it like this. I mean, so many people are worried about you. Even," She bit her lip before deciding to say the name. "...Kyoko."

At the mention of his crush's name, he looked away.

"...trust me. It may seem impossible to get on to your feet again, but time heals wounds. Even to the heart."

"I won't like any other girl after Kyoko." He muttered.

Noelle rolled her eyes and smacked him hard on the head. When he glared at her again, she replied, "Well with that attitude, you definitely won't. Seriously Tsuna, move ON. Obsessing over this will just make it hurt even more."

"What would you know?" He growled. "It's not like you've been rejected before."

"Believe or not." Noelle said, turning to face his angry stare head on. "I have."

It was in her sophomore year, when she was still living in America and was still a normal human teen who just wanted to get out of high school. She had a crush on the most athletic guy, who practically mastered any sport he touched, in her grade and near the end of the year, when she had gotten the courage to confess, told him.

The jerk laughed and then told her that even though she was cute and was totally his type, but she was freakishly strong and that kind of thing put a cramp on his style since he was supposed to be one of the most athletic people in the school.

Yeah, getting rejected hurt. But it hurt even more when the guy had mocked her as well. That had been a major turn off and since then she decided that the dating scene was not for her since quite a lot of the guys in her school were also as shallow as he was.

"At least she was nice about the whole thing." She sighed when she recounted the memory. "And she didn't decide to date you anyways because she felt sorry for you."

Seeing Tsuna about to protest, Noelle immediately placed a finger over his lips. "Ah-uh. I'm not done talking, so be quiet."

She took a lick of her chocolate ice cream as it was starting to drip.

"No, it would NOT have been better for her to go out with you out of pity. It would have hurt a lot more than if she said, 'I'm sorry, but I don't like you the same way' just as she did last week. And in that kind of situation, you would have found out eventually. So be grateful that she was upfront with you about her feelings."

Like the guy before Jayden with Madison. He didn't like Madison, but he felt sorry for her and since she was cuty, why not?

Madison had been a complete emotional mess after that and it took a month for her to recover from the ordeal, though slightly traumatized.

A crushed and tired expression crossed over Tsuna's face as he understood what his friend was trying to say. He understood, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"So... what am I supposed to do now?" He said, his voice cracking and barely above a whisper. "She's in the same class as us and I don't think that I would be able to... to... face her."

He broke off, unable to say any more.

Noelle decided that now would be the time to use her secret weapon.

And so she did.

She hugged him

Tsuna blinked as he suddenly found himself being hugged. He shifted in her embrace, uncomfortable for a minute before deciding that resistance was futile as he stared at her. Noelle's hug felt warm... and it made him feel a lot better.

"Noelle-chan?"

She chuckled. "Sorry, it looked like you really needed one." Noelle immediately let go and found much to her displeasure that her ice cream had dropped onto the cement when she had hugged him. Her expression softened. "The only thing to do is move forward. Accept that yes, things didn't work out for you this time. But remember, you're still young and you have a future and plenty of chances in this world. Kyoko isn't the only girl around and there are plenty of fish in the sea. Maybe one day you'll like someone else as much as you liked Kyoko or if you want, you could wait another few years and see if she'll return your feelings then. But just so you know, the second choice is a lot more painful so I really don't suggest that one."

Standing up, Noelle tossed her ice cream cone into the garbage. Seeing his bewildered expression that was a far cry from the sulking one she had been forced to put up with earlier, she decided that he was ready for the next stage of How to Heal a Broken Heart.

"Anyways, you seem to be feeling better now." She smiled at him and he could feel his cheeks tingling. "But I think you deserve to gorge yourself on what you want tonight. Eating heals, but since I don't think you want to eat ice cream all day we're going to hit the town! It'll be my treat!" She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pretended to swagger. "So where do you wanna go?"

"Er..." Tsuna looked away, hoping that he was not blushing at Noelle's close physical contact with him. "How about Yamamoto's?"

"Good idea, I feel like sushi tonight as well!"

And then she proceeded to drag him in the direction of the store that Yamamoto's old man owned.

Tsuna stumbled several times as Noelle pulled him along with her, but he didn't mind. Speaking with his 'Guardian Angel' had made him feel a lot better ever since the confession.

_'Besides,' _He thought to himself as he watched Noelle's golden hair bounce as she guided him. _'I think... I have a crush on you too." _

He felt very at ease whenever she spoke to him; whether it was to give him advice or words of support or to just talk to him in general like good friends. Where as Kyoko felt far beyond his reach and made him feel like a stammering mess, Noelle was much closer and he felt that he could just be himself around her because she wouldn't judge him no matter what.

She never laughed whenever he made a fool of himself in front of her, instead choosing to help him and telling him to be careful next time.

She fussed over him after their missions, asking if he was okay and scrutinizing him with a sharp gaze if she didn't think he was telling the truth.

Yes. He acted and felt different depending on who the girl he was talking or was around with.

But his feelings for them were the same...

No.

Even that was different.

Because he was both inwardly and outwardly nervous and he could hardly talk normally when he was around Kyoko, he assumed his feelings for her were stronger. But... what if it was the opposite? What if being with someone who you could just be yourself with was the person you liked more?

Noelle was always there. Whether if it was to make him laugh, or if he was sad and she was trying to cheer him up...

She was just there. Especially when he needed her.

Tsuna's heart ache when her face flashed through his mind.

There was no doubt about it.

He loved Noelle too.

* * *

><p><strong>Done! I am so freaking sorry this took so long, so I decided to make up for it by adding in this huge extra! <strong>

**And in the next chapter, we finally get to the ACTION! WHOOT! VARIA ARC HERE WE COME!**

**Anyways, don't forget to review!  
><strong>


	25. Dokuro Chrome

**Well, I'm getting started on this earlier than I thought. But I don't expect to finish this chapter in the same week that I start typing this up because I've just found out that my college course this term is going to be hell. **

**Complete. **

**And. **

**Utter. **

**Hell. **

**There, I said it. So my sporadic updating schedule will probably be forced to slow down as I have to study very hard this term. Two of my classes already seem fun... one of them, not so much. **

**Alright, I have one thing to clear up with you guys... this is officially a TsunaxOC fic. Yes, 27xOC and whatever other codename that could be come up with this pairing. **

**Also, unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get to the Varia arc in this chapter. Next one, I absolutely promise. Seriously. I just got a bit carried away with the Chrome introduction, so... well... something is better than nothing right? Anyways, please don't kill me to badly guys.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I do, however, own Noelle.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dokuro Chrome<br>**

"Here."

Noelle handed over the nutella and strawberry crepe in the paper cone over to Nagi. The girl stared at it hesitantly before taking it from her hand and taking a small nibble from it.

Nagi's face lit up in delight and she started taking bigger bites from the dessert like a ravenous beast who hadn't eaten for days. Chuckling, Noelle took one of the extra tissues she had grabbed at the crepe stand and started wiping the bits of nutella and strawberry that had gotten on the younger girl's face.

"Slow down," Noelle said, the sides of her lips twitching upwards as she stifled her laughter. Though she wanted to laugh at Nagi, she decided that at this point it wouldn't be a very good idea at the moment. "You'll make yourself sick by eating it like that."

Nagi blushed, looking like a little kid who got caught trying to sneak a cookie before dinner time. She ate the crepe more slowly as Noelle had instructed her to do. Half way through her own crepe, Noelle realized that Nagi had finished hers and was staring at Noelle's with a forlorn look.

"Do you want another one?" Noelle asked when she was able to talk again.

Nagi blinked several times, looking confused at the statement. Then she looked down at the ground in shame.

"...y-yes. If it's alright with you..."

"Then let's go get some more!" Noelle declared as she quickly scarfed down the crepe in her own hand. She then dragged the younger girl towards the crepe stand, asking Nagi if she wanted another nutella and strawberry crepe or a different one.

Nagi was unsure about the various options presented and shyly muttered that Noelle could pick for her.

So Noelle chose a delicious looking chocolate ice cream creme dessert for her while also buying two water bottles for them to drink. The crepes were absolutely delicious, but they sure made you thirsty as well.

As Nagi ate the second crepe with the same vigor she had devoured her first one, Noelle tilted her water bottle towards her lips and drank from it while watching Nagi from the corner of her eye. She had known that the future girl Mist Guardian was on the anti-social side due to isolated life style she had lived before the accident that took some of her organs and right eye. But the extent of just how shy and unsure she was when Noelle first met her had made the Serafin want to use her mafia connections on Nagi's mother and step father.

**xxxx**

_"Is that it?" __The woman asked contemptuously when she put the pen down after signing the last sheet. _

_Ignoring the woman's glare, Noelle flipped through the documents, her eyes scanning to make sure that all the lines that had to be signed by Nagi's mother had been filled in. Twice already she had asked the woman to go back to a different page because she missed a line. She didn't want to be in a room with the woman any more than the woman wanted to be in it with her, but this had to be done._

_"Yes. Everything is in order." Noelle's stomach twisted at one particular line that caught her eye._

_Basically what happened was that the Serafin had bought Nagi.  
><em>

_The total cost of releasing Nagi from the hospital and convincing her mother to sign the girl into the Serafin's care was 20,000 dollars in American. She wasn't going to even bother trying to calculate that in yen, but she knew that there was a lot of zeroes in that number._

_Noelle didn't like the fact that she was practically buying Nagi from her mother, but she hated the fact that her mother had asked how much she would be given if she were to consider giving away her daughter._

_The Serafin was amazed that she was able to remain calm through out the entire time the woman so easily used her signature on the papers._

_It was an hour later that Noelle met Nagi._

_"Did... Mukuro-sama send you?" Nagi asked. _

_Noelle smiled softly. "Yes. He did."  
><em>

**xxxx**

Noelle wasn't returning to Namimori right away as she originally planned. It was after seeing Nagi look so fascinated with everything as they walked through out the city and devouring the four crepes that Noelle bought for her when they were resting at a park that clinched it. She decided that the two of them would spend some girl time together exploring the city and doing other fun activities before Noelle dropped her off at Kokuyo Land.

So after renting a room at a hotel, Noelle explored the city with Nagi in tow.

The first day was spent going through the supermarket where vendors were selling fresh fruit, fish, meat and other stuff that could be sold at stalls. Nagi had been fascinated with the various sights and scents and Noelle happily bought several things that the girl had taken an obvious liking to.

The best part of the day was when the two of them had a picture taken next to a shark.

The second day had been spent out in the waters as Noelle payed the fisherman who allowed them to have their picture taken by the shark he captured the previous day to take them out fishing with him and his crew. It took the two girls a while to get used to the over powering stench of fish on the fisherman's boat but once they got through that obstacle, they had fun helping out with the fishing.

Day three had been spent shopping for clothes once Noelle realized that she had been lending Nagi her clothes the past few days due to the fact that the girl didn't have any of her own and that her own mother hadn't even bothered giving any of it to Noelle.

At some point during their shopping spree, Noelle spotted an eye patch that looked exactly identical to the one Chrome Dokuro had worn though out the anime in the window display. Immediately, she went inside the store and bought the eye patch at a good bargain price.

The best part was presenting the eye patch to Nagi. She stuttered at first because Noelle had already bought so many clothing articles for her but eventually broke down at Noelle's persistence and took the eye patch. Nagi didn't put it on right away but she was always checking to make sure that she had it with her and hadn't lost it somewhere on the way.

It wasn't until the fourth day that they were doing some more shopping that Nagi officially became known as Chrome. They were in front of the same store that Noelle had bought the eye patch at when Nagi had suddenly stopped, something in the window display having caught her gaze.

Noelle followed her stare and saw that Nagi was gazing at a black belt and pair of boots that matched the eye patch she had bought. They had the same silver coloured skull design that the eye patch had and it was obvious by the love struck look on Nagi's face that she wanted them.

So the Serafin did what any good person in her position did.

She dragged Nagi into the store and demanded that the girl be able to try on the boots and belt. When it was a perfect match, Noelle immediately bought the items and with boots and belt in a bag they were on their way again.

It was the receipt in the bag that started it.

"Chrome belt, chrome boots...?" Noelle said, her lips automatically translating the kanji into english. There were two other characters in the receipt but Noelle, for all the japanese she had learned, couldn't find the english equivalent for them.

Noelle had a tendency of translating japanese words out loud into english. Even if the Serafin had taught her Japanese ever since she had been six in this world, she still had a tendency to get confused.

"Kuromu?" Chrome repeated beside her. She looked confused at Noelle's sudden switch from japanese to english.

"Ah... chrome." She said the second word in english before switching to Japanese so that the girl could understand her. "It's the colour of this..."

Damn... what was the word skull in Japanese again?

Noelle tapped the chrome coloured skull on one of the leather boots as she tried to come up with the japanese translation of the object. Her mind was drawing a blank when Nagi spoke up again.

"Dokoro?" She was pointing at the characters on the receipt and then at the skull that Noelle had been tapping. Nagi did this several times before Noelle figured out what she was getting at.

"Dokoro means," Noelle pointed to the skull.

Seeing Nagi nod, Noelle couldn't help but grin. Chrome Skull? Was that how the girl in front of her got her new name? Because of the design on some of her accessories?

Wait a sec...

A vague idea began forming in Noelle's mind.

Kuromu Dokoro?

Kuromu Dokuro?

_Mukuro Rokudo? _

Noelle burst out into laughter as she realized the connection to the name.

She couldn't believe it. The romaji translation of Chrome and Dokoro (with an 'u' instead of an 'o') was a complete anagram of Mukuro Rokudo. How in the world did she miss this before? Chrome Skull that could be translated into Kuromu Dokoro that, if you switched the letters around and substituted one of the letter 'o's in for a 'u' it spelled 'Mukuro Rokudo'.

Once Noelle was able to get a handle on herself, she glanced sideways to see Nagi looking frightened and unsure of what to do next.

"Um, are you alright?" Nagi asked.

Noelle raised her hand to signal that she would answer that question in a few seconds. Taking several large breaths, she sat up straight.

"Sorry, sorry. I just realized something really funny."

Nagi looked as if she wanted to ask but kept quiet.

"Here. I'll explain it to you." Noelle reached into her bag and pulled out a pen as she began writing down what she had discovered.

It took fifteen minutes, but the Serafin was finally able to explain what she discovered to the younger girl.

"Kuromu Dokuro." Nagi repeated. "Ku...ro...mu... Do...ku...ro."

"Do you like it?" Noelle asked.

Nagi nodded, blushing slightly.

Noelle saw her chance. "Then why don't you make it your name?"

The shy girl blinked and then blushed, her gaze immediately on the ground. Noelle could tell that Nagi wanted the name but was probably thinking something along the lines of how she probably didn't deserve it.

Another reason as to why she should have slapped that woman when they were alone in the office signing the proper documents and all that other stuff.

"Go ahead and take it. Your mother," Nagi looked down and Noelle winced at bringing up the woman who had so easily signed her daughter off for a large sum of money. "Is no longer your guardian and thus has no more say in what goes on in your life." _'Good riddance too. That type of woman never should have been a mother in the first place.' _"So if you want to change your name, go ahead."

"But what would Mukuro-sama think?"

"I don't think he'll really mind. Actually, knowing him, he might find it amusing. Especially if the letters that make up your new name are an anagram of his." _'He certainly had no problems with it in the show.' _

"My name is... Kuromu Dokuro." Nagi said. "Chromuu... Chromu..."

She looked at Noelle with a pleading gaze and the blonde realized she was trying to learn the english pronunciation of it as well.

"Chrome." Noelle repeated it over and over until the newly christened Chrome Dokuro could say it right.

"Chrome." Chrome eventually said with conviction and confidence in her voice.

"Yes!" Noelle nodded, clapping her hands together before taking the violet haired girl by the arm and dragging her down the street. "Come on! We have to celebrate this! I'm buying dinner tonight!"

The days after that passed with no notable events after wards. Chrome and Noelle merely explored the town, did some last minute shopping and ate out. During their last night, Chrome helped Noelle with the packing so they were pretty much ready to depart the next day.

**xxxx**

_"I see that you two have been enjoying yourselves." Mukuro said. _

_He smiled thinly at Noelle, body signs stating that he wasn't all too happy with her delay in bringing Nagi to Kokuyo Land._

_Noelle sighed. She saw this coming but she didn't know when Mukuro would contact her about this._

_"Look, sorry about the delay. I just thought that Nagi should spend some time as a normal girl before we went to Namimori. Make some good memories since her mother isn't exactly parent of the year material if you hadn't realized it yet." She then shot Mukuro a glare. "Besides, is there something wrong with her having fun?"_

_Mukuro didn't say a word. _

_"And she has a new name." Noelle clamped a hand over her mouth before she could break out into hysterical laughter. "Don't you like it?"_

_"Yes." Mukuro smiled again. "I'm glad you took amusement in giving her that name. I must admit, there is some genius in that." _

_"Coming from you, that's quite the compliment."_

_"So any particular reason you contacted me or is this your way of telling me to get Chrome to Kokuyo ASAP?"_

_"Just making sure that there are no more delays~"_

_"Don't worry. I'll get her there."  
><em>

**xxxx**

Noelle had promised that she would deliver Chrome to Ken and Chikusa as soon as their plane landed in Namimori, but she didn't say anything about making a few stops on the way to buy some food. There was no way in hell that she was going to let Chrome and the other two guys just live off of pure junk food. As much as she loved devouring fattening foods herself, the thought of living off of just chips, chocolate and soda made her sick.

So two hours later they were finally at Kokuyo with Chrome tugging the suit case her new clothes were in behind her while Noelle carried her own belongings as well as the food.

"Ready to meet your new house mates?" Noelle asked.

Chrome nodded and then she and Noelle entered the building and started looking for the yo yo user and beast boy. When they found them, the reception was less than welcoming.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Ken snarled at Noelle. "Did _they_ tell you to come looking for us?"

"No one told me to come looking for you." She sighed. "Okay, maybe except for Mukuro but that's because he wanted me to deliver something very important to the two of you."

"Mukuro-sama contacted you?" Ken sounded angry... and hurt. Probably because the Kokuyo gang leader had opted to contact someone who was allied with their enemy rather than them.

"Yes. And if you must know, it was because I was the only person out of my friends who could deliver the very important package that he wanted me to give you two."

Chikusa's blank eyes looked Noelle over before he spoke. "What is it?"

"She's right..." Noelle looked over her shoulder and saw that Chrome wasn't behind her. "Wait, hold on a sec."

Chrome was hiding beside the door way and out of view from Chikusa and Ken's sight. With a little tugging, Noelle was able to get the girl out into the open where the two boys could see her.

"Who is she?" There was still a hard tone in Ken's voice but it was also mixed with curiosity.

"The important package, or should I say person, that Mukuro wanted me to bring you!"

There was a stunned silence from all parties in the room save for Noelle who looked as if she was waiting for an encore.

"Uh..." Noelle turned to Chrome. "Mukuro, if you're in there, do something okay? I don't want to look like I'm crazy."

And on cue, the air around the girl shifted as Mukuro possessed the young girl to prove to his two former companions that he was listening in on their conversation through Chrome's ears. He took over her body, but didn't change her image.

"Chikusa. Ken." It wasn't Chrome's quiet and soft voice that spoke, but a deeper and obviously masculine one. A smirk that looked strange on the normally shy and anti-social girl's face formed on Chrome's lips.

Ken's jaw dropped and he took on the impression of a fish flopping on land as Chikusa's eyes widened at hearing the voice of the very person he had vowed to follow.

"M-mukuro-sama?" Ken finally said as his voice found him again.

"No." Noelle said, deciding that she needed to break up the tense atmosphere in the room. "It's a talking squirrel who recently got run over and is now possessing people to get his revenge on humanity. His name is Foamy by the way."

That had the entire Kokuyo gang staring at her. Either in disbelief or amusement (Mukuro).

"Of course it's your precious Mukuro! Doesn't he sound like him? And tell me, do you know anyone else who can go around possessing people?" Noelle flushed when the other three just kept on staring at her.

"That is you, right, Mukuro-sama?" Ken asked again, ignoring Noelle.

Noelle opened her mouth but Mukuro/Chrome glared at her and she clamped it shut. She wasn't exactly ready to face Mukuro's wrath should he decide to bring it down on her for being a smart ass.

Deciding that she wasn't needed for the reunion between the Kokuyo gang, Noelle talked to Chikusa and Ken about treating Chrome nicely and that if they didn't, she was going to kick their butts.

Noelle departed with the words that she would come back and visit soon to see how things were going and that she would bring several boxes of pizza with her next time.

The boys didn't object so much to her future drop in visits when she mentioned that she would be bringing in free food with her.

**xxxx**

Noelle stared at the bill in front of her and groaned.

She realized that her extra week stay and shopping spree with Chrome was going to cost a lot, but she didn't think that it would cost this much!

When the blonde Serafin had finally gotten home, avoided the traps that Sarah had left lying around the house and then went to her room, she found a white envelope sitting in the middle of her desk.

She opened up the envelope and found that the envelope contained a credit card bill.

Dear lord, it could compete with one of Jack's shopping sprees and that was saying something. Though to be fair, a good chunk of the money she had spent had gone to bribing Chrome's mother as well as the hospital that Chrome had been staying in.

But still, that was a lot of zeroes.

Noelle's head dropped on to the desk with a loud thud and the paper in her hand fluttered onto the floor.

She does something nice for someone and then it goes and bites her in the ass in the form of a bill.

The blonde had a feeling that she was going to have to pay for the huge bill in some way. The Serafin could easily throw money around where it was needed like candy but that didn't mean you could get away with spending that much scot free.

Especially if you were involved with a mafia family.

In her former life, Noelle had never spent the amount of money she had last week within the four years she had been allowed to have a credit card. Then again, she hadn't been a part of a rich mafia family who practically had unlimited funds at their disposal.

But with the way her older sister Kaitlin had shopped, you would think she thought other wise.

Shopping with Chrome had reminded her of the times she used to go shopping with her sister. Though it was Noelle who was spending all the money and making the shopping decisions instead of being the one who just tagged along and made sure her sister didn't spend too much.

The memory that the shopping spree had triggered made her smile.

Noelle's older sister had been the romantic type. Kaitlin often imagined herself getting married to the man of her dreams and before Noelle's death, her dream man and boyfriend at the time was a young man who had moved from Spain. His name was Antonio and even though Noelle tried to remember what his last name had been, she couldn't recall it. She only knew that he had a really long last name.

Noelle hoped that Kaitlin and Antonio had gotten married and had a happy family. Antonio, out of all the guys that Kaitlin had dated, had been the sweetest and the most considerate of her boyfriends.

Though at the beginning, before they were in a relationship, Kaitlin had decided to stop dating due to the fact that her previous boyfriend had cheated on her with three different girls. There was also the fact that her dating life was less than stellar. Even so, Antonio had been pretty persistent in trying to get her to give him a chance.

In the end, Kaitlin gave in and decided to go on a few dates with him.

She didn't regret it and the two of them had been dating for three years straight.

Noelle stared out the window as the nostalgia of her former life hit her.

How long had it been since she thought of her sister?

How long had it been since she thought of her family?

Her friends?

Her old life in general?

She knew that Madison and Jayden had a family together but what about everyone else?

Noelle realized her eyes were stinging and she quickly used the back of her hand to rub at them and wipe away at the tears that started spilling over and dripping down her cheeks. But no matter how many times she had tried to wipe them away, she would not stop crying.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, no Varia in this chapter. On the plus side, Noelle gets to know Chrome and is the one responsible for giving her her current name! Though I absolutely promise you that there will be action in the next chapter and Noelle gets to meet Basil!<strong>

**Yes. That's right. **

**Basil. **

**BTW, can you guess where Antonio is from? **

**And anyone get the Squirrel joke?  
><strong>


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